Irish Champions Weekend make up

DESPITE the short history of Irish Champions Weekend, it is evident that the Leopardstown part of the weekend is a more popular affair, at the very least racing-wise. This is understandable of course when you take into account a comparison of the two feature races - the Irish Champion Stakes on Saturday and the Irish St. Leger on Sunday. The former has a rich history of attracting huge names and producing highlight-of-the-season type races. The latter can often end up an uncompetitive affair and is discredited by some, given its status as a classic race opened to all ages.

Ironic it must be that this year, after all the controversies with the Curragh staging racing on what many have labelled a building site, the Irish St. Leger and rest of the Curragh’s part of the weekend is shaping up to garner the larger chunk of attention on the track.

The St. Leger could well feature a rematch between Big Orange and Order Of St George, which for many people, contested the race of the year in the Ascot Gold Cup. In comparison the Irish Champion Stakes is an unlikely destination for the outcomings of York with touted runners Ulysses and Cracksman having other agendas. This came after last year’s winner Almanzor retired and his stablemate Brametot was a big disappointment on his comeback off a mid-season break. You still have Churchill, earmarked for the race by Aidan O’Brien, but even two weeks out, the 10-furlong showpiece looks to be lacking depth.

Outside of the two feature races, the ‘undercard’ at the Curragh also looks to be shaping up better to Leopardstown’s potential offering.

Expert Eye would be an intriguing addition to the National Stakes

Expert Eye, for many people is the best juvenile so far this year, could travel over for the Vincent O’Brien National Stakes where he could meet Aidan O’Brien’s Amedeo Modigliani. In the Moyglare Stud Stakes, the intriguing Alpha Centauri is to reappear and will likely face a fearsome brigade of Ballydoyle fillies led by Clemmie and Magical. Even the Group 3 Flying Five Stakes, normally a standard enough affair, is likely to attain the added intrigue of Caravaggio attempting to get back to his best.

I’d still be of the view that this was a good opportunity to let Leopardstown stage the while weekend but that’s said and done now. In any case it’s great that the Curragh have decided to open the infield which allows them to admit 1,000 extra people on top of the 6,000 cap put in place for Irish Derby Day. Although that would still leave them short of last year’s attendance for the corresponding fixture which took in 9,225.

Russell off lightly

I wrote here last week that if Davy Russell was to face the Turf Club to answer a case for the video clip of his punch on Kings Dolly last Friday week at Tramore that it would be a certainty that the Corkman would receive a suspension. Silly on my part because there are no certainties in racing, are there?

The case is done now - signed and sealed - so here’s one final thought. Is the future of racing so watertight that we need not worry about what other people think of the sport? I don’t think it is.

It was surprising to read so many people from inside the sport attempt to trivialise this whole episode. There was overwhelming support for Russell that if anything, seemed to gather momentum as the week went on. The common argument was; “It wouldn’t have hurt the horse,” or “Horses need to be told who is the boss.”

Most of these views miss the point. Much like Russell’s short statement this time last week which contained the sentence: “I ride every horse to win, no matter what and would never do anything to hamper its chances.”

That has absolutely nothing to do with the issue. The issue is the perception of racing as a sport to the public outside. And incidents like this only give more ammunition to the anti-racing establishment.

For that reason it was a surprise that the Turf Club stewards chose not to take action especially considering the seven-day ban Shane Foley received for coercing his horse with his whip prior to entering the stalls. It’s okay to punch a horse on the head but not okay to use the whip prior to entering the stalls - even though when the horse leaves the stalls he is likely to be hit seven to 10 times with twice as much force.

Never go up too early

Watching sport and in particular, betting on it, you have to be careful about celebrating too early. Because you can end up making yourself look like a right tool.

I’ve seen it happen so many times down the years. In company in the somewhat famous Ladbrokes tent at Galway a couple of years ago, one of the lads, who was in particular need of a winner, backed a horse Dicky Johnson was riding at Perth. The camera angle at Perth is more or less head-on up the straight so it’s hard enough to see who is in front if the race is close.

Johnson’s mount jumped the last in front and looked to be at least a couple of lengths clear when the camera zoomed in on him. My mate thought this to be confirmation his steed was powering clear and started jumping up and down like a child on Christmas morning. When the camera zoomed back out, all you could see was another horse powering up the rail and Johnson ended up getting beaten four or five lengths. It was hilarious to every punter inside the tent and even the cashiers were chuckling.

My friend was disconsolate but I can’t imagine how Frankie Dettori felt last week, mind you.

Marsha and Luke Morris (far side) gets up to deny Lady Aurelia and Frankie Dettori