I’VE never had a broken leg so am not at liberty to speak about the physical pain Ruby Walsh endured after his fall from Let’s Dance at Punchestown on Saturday.
That said, I’d still bet long odds-on the mental pain of watching Faugheen win as he did on Sunday far outweighed whatever Walsh went through the day before.
His fall from Let’s Dance was his third of the day, which is a quite ridiculous turn of luck. As it has now sadly become the norm, news of Walsh’s fall led to a somewhat eye-rubbing chain of abusive messages directed at him on Twitter.
The type of vitriol written in these situations never ceases to surprise. Malachy Clerkin wrote in the Irish Times today: “If you ever want to acquaint yourself with the worst people, have a scroll through Twitter whenever Ruby Walsh has a fall.”
It can only be assumed that the people writing such abuse take some sort of pleasure out of seeing such injuries, which really is disgusting and defaming to the sport of racing.
It’s doubtful Walsh is the type to search for his name on Twitter after a day at the races (he recently said that he no longer engages with the social media website) and, as mentioned, the pain of missing out on riding Faugheen will trump all.
However, more worryingly, the practice of Twitter-searching your own name is more commonly done by the younger and more vulnerable members of the weigh room. And that is a big concern.
Walsh has and will likely continue to be the biggest target for such keyboard losers. The Irish champion jockey’s talent in the saddle is appreciated by many racing fans but he often irks people with his forthright views on certain subjects in racing and outside of the sport.
There are those who dislike Walsh because of his opinions, though one could argue it is refreshing to see a sports star willing to speak their mind in an age when there is a rising level of bland, useless and pointless information given out by sports people in interviews.
And there are still punters out there hanging on to the absolutely bizarre view that Walsh was the cause of Annie Power's fall in the 2015 Mares Hurdle.
Some of the tweets are difficult to fathom and one wonders how any sports person, especially a jockey, would bother with Twitter.
The state of mind of an angry gambler can, it seems, bring about quite disgraceful acts. Blame absolutely everyone else. They believe they have been wronged. Twitter allows them a platform to seek their own perceived justice.
I wonder if, in the future, a racing authority here or in another jurisdiction will ban active professional jockeys from being present on social media. It wouldn’t stop them going online but at least it would be stance and a warning sign.
There are positives to having jockeys on Twitter as it allows genuine racing fans to engage. But do the positives outweigh the negatives? I’m not so sure.
FANTASTIC FAUGHEEN
Prior to yesterday, the last time we had seen Faugheen, the guts of nearly two years ago, he was at his brilliant best dismantling stablemates Arctic Fire and Nichols Canyon in the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown. Yesterday, he wasn’t far off that standard and that is an amazing feat by both trainer and horse.
Going into Punhestown, perhaps connections would have taken a scrappy win or indeed a second to Jezki or Campeador. Remember, he had been beaten in this race two years ago by the aforementioned Nichols Canyon before well and truly setting that record straight. So to win as he did, cruising clear on the run in to the straight, as if he’d never been away, can only bode well for the rest of the season.
No decisions have been made as to where he’ll go next and you can’t blame connections for that. It was all about yesterday and now that it’s out of the way, the rest of the season can be planned. He could go back to Kempton for the Christmas Hurdle or he could stay at home and go to Leopardstown. Whatever he does, the Irish Champion Hurdle, now part of the inaugural Dublin Racing Festival in early February, is likely to be front and centre. Then on to Cheltenham. Touch wood.
While yesterday was brilliant, and it’s another Grade 1 for Faugheen, perhaps we should just dander on a line of caution until we see him again. You probably need more evidence than just one performance to start making a case that the nine-year-old, rising 10, is back to his brilliant best.
But the omens are good. He’s as short as 6/4 with some bookmakers for the Champion Hurdle and, if everything went well, he’d be shorter again on the day.
There was a unique atmosphere following Faugheen's win at Punchestown yesterday
He’d be bidding to join the likes of Hurricane Fly, Hardy Eustace, Sea Pigeon and Monksfield and he would be more than worth his place among those sort of names. More than that he’d also be bidding to emulate Hurricane Fly and Comedy Of Errors by coming back to win the championship two-mile event.
Racing fans and sports fans in general love a champion who gets knocked down and gets up again. Think Sprinter Sacre. The winner’s enclosure at Punchestown yesterday showed that Faugheen attains a similar sort of affection with the racing public. Hopefully there will be a similar sort of atmosphere around the winner’s enclosure after the Champion Hurdle in March.
DRINMORE SHAPING UP
Also at Punchestown yesterday, Woodland Opera won the Grade 2 Craddockstown Chase in good style - staying on well to outpoint the useful Tombstone, the pair of them finishing clear. One race later, Gordon Elliott’s Jury Duty outstayed stablemate Shattered Love to win the Grade 2 Florida Pearl Novice Chase.
They were both good solid performances and both are now established Grade 2 novice chasers.
A quick glance at each winner's form reads very interesting. The pair raced against each other on their previous run to yesterday, at Cork, where both were hammered by Bamako Moriviere. The performance from Willie Mullins’ six-year-old looked good at the time but it looks a whole deal better now.
Jury Duty stayed on well to win the Florida Pearl Novice Chase
All three may go for the Drinmore Novice Chase next at Fairyhouse, where Bamako Moriviere won his beginners' chase last month. They could all meet Death Duty, who also received a significant form boost through second-season novice Woodland Opera, who tried to go toe-to-toe with him in a Grade 3 chase at Punchestown but eventually got turned inside out for such exertions and was done for second.
Death Duty is an interesting horse. After that Punchestown race Gordon Elliott’s comments were significant. He said: “I have always thought the world of Death Duty. Last year I was of the opinion that he wanted three miles, but I'd say I might have been wrong, to be honest.”
With that, you could assume that the JLT Chase will be Death Duty’s Cheltenham target, considering the Drinmore is run over the same sort of distance - two and a half miles. Gordon Elliott’s gelding is 12/1 top price for that race but interestingly Bamako Moriviere is twice that at 25/1.
Should both horses show up to Fairyhouse, the Drinmore could be a very significant race indeed.
GIRLS ON FIRE
It was great to see Louise Magee win the Up The Yard race at Punchestown on Saturday, a terrific initiative which aims to celebrate the role of stable staff in racing. Magee, who works for Gordon Elliott, is quite a remarkable woman as she took care of Don Cossack, has played senior football for Meath and topping it all, has given birth to two sets of twins.
Winning a race around Punchestown is another one for the list and she hardly put a foot wrong on Taglietelle, who was well placed throughout the race, held onto until half way up the straight before being sent clear to win well.
Maxine O'Sullivan performed wonders to keep her partnership with Wilcosdiana intact
Another tip of the cap goes to amateur rider Maxine O’Sullivan who, at Cork on Sunday, produced an absolutely outrageous ‘sit’ when her mount Wilcosdiana blundered at the last when clear of rivals. If you’d taken the 7/1 about Eugene O’Sullivan’s seven-year-old mare, you owe most of it to Maxine. Had a more higher profile jockey done the same, we’d be raving about it for months.