INTO the valley of death rode the six hundred. That’s Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade.

But for Irish racegoers, 500 is the number. Add another 100 or two and you’d be forgiven for thinking we too are riding into a ‘valley of death’ at a racecourse. It must be the thinking if these continuing restrictions on attendances are to be taken seriously.

It’s been said before these past months and by many commentators. We have one of the highest percentage of vaccinated populations in the world. British racing is going on as normal. The Premier League is back with guidelines that fans should be prepared to show they have been fully vaccinated or have received a negative lateral flow test in the previous 48 hours.

In France at Deauville, there is no limit but the use of a Pass Sanitaire – a ‘health pass’ is mandatory for those of 18 years and over. Health Pass means either recovered from Covid, fully vaccinated or a negative antigen test in the previous 48 hours.

There were almost 9,000 in Berlin at its Group 1 last week, Saratoga has had around 25,000 in attendance each day of its summer meeting.

We saw scenes that were very different to our racecourses from Croke Park last week.

Why are we still waiting to add a few thousand to the general race-day attendances? I think we need new representatives for racing come the next general election.

Let’s amuse ourselves and nominate a representative that will have fans storming to parade rings to see him! Faugheen, fancy coming out of retirement?

We’ve had strange names on ballot papers before. Even if he can’t speak, it seems like many of the current group of politicians are equally silent in fighting to lift the now ridiculous limit in numbers allowed, outdoors, on racetracks.

Dawson get deserved headlines

WHILE we should wait until the completion of the Racing League to judge on its value you wonder how (outside of those directly participating) what the public, and even the racing public, are engaging with when they see a headline like ‘Team Swish dominate at Lingfield Park’.

Having teams known by their ‘sponsor’, Goat Racing, Team BullionVault, or Team Swish, just seems so vague in terms of connecting with the public. Further exploration will be needed, it may have to adopt a regional element but some deeper thinking is required to engage more at stay at home fans.

The best racing story of Thursday was actually unfolding at the same time on RacingTV. I’ve had comments that one of the better things about racing through the pandemic in Britain was that the restriction on jockeys riding at two meetings now results in many more riders getting a bit of air time after their wins.

This has been a memorable week for Kildare jockey Ray Dawson, his victory on old favourite Danzeno at Nottingham on Wednesday, coming before a great treble at Chelmsford on Thursday which saw him lose his claim. Dawson has been public about battling the drink and drugs, trying to make a name for himself and is a good motivating story for the season.

What the Olympics showed us was how we can be as much invested in those who fall short, that their struggles connect with people as much as success. It’s the old tale of trumping adversity. Throwing extra money at a sport is no guarantee of creating further interest.

What’s really wrong with the ‘Ladies’?

I’M not really getting the negative comments on the inclusion of a female ‘Ladies’ team in the Shergar Cup.

It’s a novelty event and by pitting girls against boys, men against women, it gets more attention for the female riders when they get a win. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Adding a female to each team almost defeats the purpose of a team event such as this. It would most likely be an already well established female rider. Last Saturday’s event gave Nicola Currie a deserved day in the limelight and that was one of the better elements of these ‘novelty’ racedays.