When playing into the wind, in sport or life in general, it’s always safest to keep it simple and stick to what you know best. If you’re driving out, hold what you have and don’t look back.
If, on the other hand, you’re fighting a rearguard action, hold your ground, trust yourself and keep it simple when clearing your lines.
A combination of all of the above would probably best summarise the methodology employed by yours truly in dealing with the mental health travails which can role this way.
Within that, though, there are certain staples which are immovable. Or at least were. Yet life as it was known combusted either three years ago or eight years back depending on what way you want to look at it.
However, even though much of what was the ‘normal’ of my world was decimated by forces beyond my control, there are certain tenets of the ‘new normal’ (what a disgusting phrase) which were non negotiable.
Until this year at least. Namely, at least one day out following the harvest, get to as many Dunboyne matches and at least one Meath match during the season and at least one day of both the Fairyhouse Easter and Winter Festivals.
Sadly, both of the latter have come and gone this year without a wheel getting inside the gate. Through nobody’s fault, just life being the piece of sh** Monty Python alluded to a long time ago.
Thus, taking in the action on the box in the office was very much a bittersweet affair. Yes, one was profoundly upset and that will never change no matter how long the chasm is. Yet, observers couldn’t but be intrigued by how some of the action played out.
Not so long ago in this space, mention was afforded to the foibles of small fields in jumps racing and the potential it had to gravely damage the discipline. That, in turn, is only magnified by the possibility of a handful of trainers, at most, having multiple representatives in races. Whether big fields or small.
Yes, there is cognisance that there’s no easy fix to that conundrum, but it can hardly be right that the pompous snobbery of the Flat is now more accommodating to the common man than the jumps.
More fundamentally, however, it is not good for the racing industry at large or the marketing thereof. The last-mentioned aspect is something which could be debated until the cows come home but even a cursory look at the results of the big races at the Ratoath venue paints a picture worth a thousand words.
Not that there is a suggestion untoward or improper for one second. Just that the way the races panned out only served to highlight how insular the National Hunt scene has become.
For example, in Saturday’s Rated Novice Hurdle, the Willie Mullins-trained Gust Of Wind went to post 11/10f but it was the same stable’s Risk Belle which passed the jamstick first. In the interest of fairness, it must be said that Gust Of Wind fell whrn seemingly having matters under control three out.
Though it does serve to underline the point. Mind you, not as much as the outcomes of the big races on Day 2 of the Festival.
We may as well take them in order seeing as there were ‘upsets’ in the three Grade One races. Beginning with the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle. Here, Batman Girac (7/4f) was the pick multiple Mullins bullets while What’s Up Darling probably had the highest profile of Gordon Elliott’s brigade.
Inclination is though that such being the case had more to do with the mare being owned by Gigginstown than anything else. Which, you suspect, is what the winning trainer was getting at when, post-race, he said “In fairness, Jack (Kennedy) had the pick of them and stuck with this lad” (Farren Glory, winner). Of the Mullins troops, the experienced Bialystok was first home in fourth at odds of 6/1. Given the eye catching manner in which Rich Ricci’s runner rattled home, it will be interesting to see whether they go out in trip over hurdles or are tempted to chasing.
So to the Drinmore Novice Chase. Again, what a pity it was to see a race with such history and status with only five combatants going to post. Three of them from Closutton and two of them in the green and gold hoops of the man from Martinstown.
How frustrating it must be for Manager Peter Roe and his staff at the course too. For it is known first hand the effort and dedication that goes into care and preparation of the course. For every meeting, not just the big ones. They, however, are the days on which the toil is rewarded.
A handful of runners in Grade 1 in which the winner pockets €85,000 is hardly due reward for their efforts. Then again, if wanting talk about frustrating, how about letting an Irish Grand National winner go off an unconsidered 11/1 outsider in the quintet.
At the time of National last Easter, the point was made that JP (McManus) didn’t get to where he is in life by making too many mistakes. Therefore, he obviously saw something special in I Am Maximus which prompted him to do a deal with Claudio Grech to acquire the 7-year-old 24 hours before the race.
As was opined here at the time, it’s doubtful any investor ever got as quick or wholesome a reward from speculation as did the South Liberties clubman that wet Easter Monday in the Royal County. https://boylantalkssport.com/2023/04/11/jps-last-minute-shopping-pays-off/. It must be admitted that I’m not sure whether he named after Russell Crowe’s character in Gladiator had ran since his big day at the same venue but what was obvious was that – whether by accident or design – Mark Walsh gave the gelding an equally patient spin as did the Closutton stable jockey eight months beforehand.
Which only leaves the small matter of the Hattons Grace Hurdle. Now, this, to my mind, is one of the most storied races on the Irish racing calendar. A glance the Roll Of Honour confirms as much. Thereon are listed such luminaries as Limestone Lad, Istabraq, Hurricane Fly, Faugheen and Honeysuckle to name but a handful.
Prior to this year’s staging, the Champion Trainer’s Impaire Et Passe was all the rage as the French bred had looked imperious in anything it had done so far. By virtue of which the property of Simon Munir and Isaac Suede was considered to be the best – or only – chance there was of anybody or anything getting within an ass’s roar of Constitution Hill.
He may well end up doing so in the future but Sunday’s fare proved that a sizable chunk of the racing fraternity – guilty as charged here definitely – erred catastrophically in not affording Teahupoo the respect Robcour’s 6-year-old deserved. After all, Gordon Elliott’s charge did win the corresponding race last term – when making history by becoming the first to deprive Honeysuckle of the Winners’ Enclosure.
Well, he’s only gone and done it again. Right, so Impare Et Passe may not have reached the same heights as Kenny Alexander’s wonder mare, or might never do so, but, he was still unbeaten before Sunday’s race and thought to be the leading Irish Champion Hurdle hope.
Having jumped three out and rounded the Fairyhouse bend, everything still appeared to be going according to what would’ve been the perceived script. Townend’s mount loomed up with seemingly loads still in the tank and in all honesty never put a hoof wrong. Perhaps the only difference between the two being that the winner was ridden a shade more conservatively than the favourite.
Though the latter lost nothing in defeat and if anything, what the result has done is spark other areas for exploration and leave plenty of food for thought. I would agree entirely with Jack Kennedy that Teahupoo is “Not just a mudlark” and that the latest franking of the fact at least should open myriad options for the Cullentra House team.
But then, going on the way these things usually play out, many if not all of the same combatants will line up again in a few weeks time in Leopardstown and there’s every possibility there could be different outcomes to those seen over the weekend.
The fun will be in seeing how the rematches play out.