A WINNER, a winner, a winner. Everyone wants a winner. A call came to the office last week from an irate owner whose horse had finished second. He’d finished third the time before. And second the time before that. So, tough you say, that’s racing.

“How is my horse ever going to win a race again,” he wanted to know, “I might as well sell him. I don’t want to, he’s not a bad horse, but…” Another owner gone?

The owner was initially lucky that his (Irish-bred) horse won a bumper first time out but then through the autumn he was beaten in his next two bumpers by horses trained by Willie Mullins and Aidan O’Brien. So to hurdles, third to Aidan O’Brien and Willie again. Then a maiden at a Grade 2 track; he again goes down to a Willie Mullins-trained horse, but race conditions allow the Mullins horse, who has never run, an 8lb allowance.

So the “how is my horse ever going to win a race” is a valid concern.

Of course, not all of the criticism levelled at HRI is justified as it can suggest that no one has the foresight to try to make it a fairer playing field for everyone.

There is logic in trying to make maiden hurdles more competitive by encouraging bumper winners to run at Grade 1 courses and allowing horses that have not won a race more of a chance at Grade 2 courses.

Willie is bound to have some that fit every set of conditions and is entitled to get his owners the best chance of winning.

We moved on a few days and the big Leopardstown meeting opened with a Grade 1 juvenile hurdle won by the Mullins third string Footpad, a French-bred, owned by an owner who was not in attendance.

Comparing the races, you wonder who contributed most to Irish racing. Footpad’s win might not get racegoers to the track.

As another winner came back in to the Leopardstown winner’s enclosure last Saturday, the comment was overheard, “well I’d prefer to see X win it than Y.” Both X and Y were one of those much maligned “big owners” but the subtext suggested it was preferred if neither owner had won it.

At the ITBA Seminar in Tattersalls on Monday, we had the same starting point. Jim Balfry of the Supreme Horse Club was asked what the modern owner wants. “He wants a winner, and a winner tomorrow.”

We are back to where we were a few weeks ago, it’s not the quality of horses in the Mullins yard that is bad for racing, it’s the quantity. The table shows the saturation of Mullins runners in graded races this season.

The 20 races to date had a total of 111 runners, the average was 5.55. Willie Mullins won 14 of the 20 (70.00%). Few got a slice of the decent prize money. The Red Mills and Flyingbolt chases this weekend make little appeal to encourage racegoers.

Accusations at the IBTA Seminar that there were too many Grade 1 races doesn’t really hold true when you break races down into the different divisions, hurdlers, chasers, novices, stayers, juveniles. You can’t use the argument we have the horses, give us the races to appeal for a Group 1 sprint on the flat but then when we have the horses say we have too many Grade 1s over jumps. But the number of National Hunt Grade 2 and 3 races does not appear necessary for the current horse population.

The allocation of prize money given to big handicaps was also mentioned at the Seminar as simply driving the big owners into handicaps. True, Shanahans Turn, Road To Riches and Carlingford Lough took the Galway Plate in recent years. There are many J.P. McManus runners trawling in the depths of handicap ready to spring to life on certain days but those races still throw up the Indian Pace’s, Bahrain Storm, Moon Dice and Rebel Fitz’s. It is one of the rare chances for an ordinary horse to progress through the handicap and to still hope to pick up a big prize.

Among graded races the middle tier is being squeezed out, with small fields and the domination of a few. Odds-on chances make no general appeal for betting.

Speaking at the ITBA Seminar, Willie appealed for more prize money but if the sport is seeking more prize money, where does it come from, when you see a famed race on prime Saturday RTÉ afternoon TV without a sponsor?

It’s fine saying it’s cyclical, but how long is the cycle and who is left when its complete? Many could be long gone after five years if, after Vautour, comes Douvan and after Douvan comes Min and then the next novice star of next year.

If you are an owner or trainer, the most depressing piece of the Racing Post on Saturday is the corner of the Willie Mullins column where he says one to watch, and you see a new name every week, and are left thinking how many more can he have?

But we can’t say “no Willie need apply” on a racetrack. Trainers are told to up their game but how if you have already trained War Of Attrition, Kicking King, Brave Inca, Big Zeb or Voler La Vedette, is that not enough and how do you “up” anything without a decent horse?

Watching the winners coming back in at Leopardstown, there were few scenes of great celebration compared to years gone by.

Another observation from the wise heads at the ITBA Seminar was “the end product has to engage people, they have to invest in it.”

It was a strange occurrence from a personal view that one of the most uplifting moments of last Saturday’s sporting coverage came from Match of the Day. The Premier League is an odd place to look for comfort but Claudio Ranieri’s comments, “We don’t have to win the league, we must enjoy. I think this is a fantastic moment for the Premier League,” had some resonance. We can enjoy and even begin to participate in Leicester’s success, taking on the multi-millionaire clubs.

Last year, as the curtain fell on the Cheltenham Festival, you were left with a thrilling Gold Cup still igniting the enthusiasm, and the prospect of seeing a horse like Vautour up close. A year on, there is no Coneygree and Vautour has never set foot on an Irish racecourse.

Cheltenham will be the source of Irish rejoicing again and for four days it won’t matter who trained the horses. But back home racing will suffer a further decline as the apathy spreads.

When Dawn Run went to Cheltenham every man woman and child in the country wanted her to win. It was the same with Istabraq. Faugheen might be just as good but his followers are much fewer. Times are much changed.