“ONCE upon a time, there was a horse called Kelso. But only once.”

That opening sentence is regarded as one of the best lines ever written in American racing journalism.

It described the gelding Kelso, who won the US Horse of the Year title in the 60’s and ranks fourth on their Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century.

Also in the US, John Henry, winner of the first Arlington Million back in 1981, was much celebrated and had a statue erected to him in Arlington Park, and since donated to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga.

John Henry captured a second Arlington Million as a nine-year-old in 1984 and was selected as Horse of the Year following both victories. He was the oldest horse to win Horse of the Year - at age nine - and was horse racing’s version of the American Dream.

The gelding Wise Dan was also a dual Horse of the Year in the US in 2012 and 2013. Tony Keenan unearthed an interesting fact that the Curragh Saturday winner Mission Central was “just the fifth individual gelding to run for Aidan O’Brien since 2017”.

We don’t respect our geldings so well here. That win came a day before Godolphin’s Rebel’s Romance battled to his eighth Group 1 win in Germany. Now, perhaps his owners might erect a statue to the most popular gelding, but he will be less celebrated in general racing terms and more is the pity.

If pulling in interest by having more familiar names from year to year is a selling point, talented geldings fit the bill. Last week’s much talked about Kempton winner Raammee was also making his debut as a gelded three-year-old. Perhaps the times they are a changing in giving them more adulation and recognising what they can offer the sport.

Finding how Shergar fits the bill

IT’S a pity that this year’s Shergar Cup at Ascot last week received a share of negative comments. While attendance might have been down on past years, getting 18,000 people to a race meeting at a track like Ascot with no star horses, is pretty decent achievement, even with all the extra ‘entertainment’.

The racing lacked some of the well-known jockeys of recent years and the removal of the Ladies/Girls team seems unnecessary and something that took away an element of interest, the females beating the males. It’s a place to stand out, not blend in.

Quality racing at the Curragh and in America kept those riders at home, compared to what was on offer if they travelled to Ascot. The names were not so well known, for all that each interview on TV came across very well.

There were a few whips flying from hands, whip bans afterwards and one or two slow starts but criticism on TV by Maureen Haggas of the ability of the riders looked a bit unnecessary. It was a one off event. A group of British riders riding in Australia or America for one meeting might also break rules.

You don’t have to look too far to see riders getting hemmed in daily, we have seen a few top riders drop whips at Royal Ascot, and back a few years, one Frankie Dettori had difficulty removing a blindfold from Lord North, losing his chance in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes. Even Ryan Moore briefly dropped a rein on True Love at the Curragh. Suggestions to drop the fixture and add a better class card will hardly work. We already have lower-key Saturdays and though the Racing League’s Thursday fixtures may have pulled some horses from it, it deserves its place on a quieter summer Saturday.

Creating middle distance stars

ON a quick search through the sale catalogues for the two elite sales at Goffs and Tattersalls this coming September/October, you could not but notice how few true middle distance sires are represented. Yes, Frankel, Dubawi and Lope De Vega are there but for stallions who won over a mile and a half, of the 537 catalogued at Tattersalls Book 1, only 18.4% are from such sires. At Goffs, it’s 65 of the 466 lots, 13.9%.

Ghaiyyath has his third crop up for sale \ carolinenorris.ie

Removing the few sires who have the strongest representation from that group, Sea The Stars with 35, Camelot with 19 and New Bay with 15 in Tattersalls, the percentage of mile and a half-winning sires is just 5.58%.

Goffs representation is even worse with only Sea The Stars, New Bay and Camelot again in double figures and only 8.15% of the sires were mile and a half winners. The only ‘newer’ sire in that category is Ghaiyyath which doesn’t say much for the future.

Perhaps the bigger owner/breeders will keep planning to find Derby, King George and Arc winners, or a band of stoutly-bred mares fit with Frankel, Lope De Vega and Wootton Bassett but the mile and a half division shrinks yearly.