A Grade 2 Novice Chase at Punchestown on a Saturday. One of the prestigious novice chases in the Irish racing calendar. Total prize pot of €36,500, of which €21,900 went to the winner. Looks a glossy product and an easy sell so far, right? Wrong. Three runners. One trainer. One owner. Then there are those who scoff at the notion that jump racing in particular is struggling for breath.
In case you haven’t heard of it or figured out yet, the Florida Pearl Novice Chase. Three declared runners: Stellar Story (Owned by – Gigginstown House Stud; Trained by – Gordon Elliott; Ridden by – Jack Kennedy;) Search For Glory (Owned by – Gigginstown House Stud; Trained by – Gordon Elliott; Ridden by – Sam Ewing;) Rainbow Trail (Owned by – Gigginstown House Stud; Trained by – Gordon Elliott; Ridden by – Jody McGarvey).
Where do you even begin picking the bones out of that? In the context of what you will read hereafter, let’s start with the jockeys. If it’s taken as read that Jack Kennedy is top of the pecking order of riders in Gordon’s in what formation do the others – of which there are copious – file in behind? Jordan Gainford? Sam Ewing? Danny Gilligan? Josh Williamson? Josh Halford? Keith Donoghue? Jake Coen? Harry Swan? Hannah Smullen?
Don’t get me wrong, Gordon cannot be commended highly enough for the manner in which he gives young lads and ladies their ‘start’. Moreover, there could hardly be a better place to learn on the job. Just as has Gordon’s great friend – and most likely mentor of sorts – Kevin Prendergast from a Flat perspective. At one time in the Friarstown academy you had: Padraig Beggy, Brian Hughes, Chris Hayes, Rory Cleary, Shane Foley (I think), Sam James, Christy Geoghegan and Bryan Cooper – not a bad line up!
Now to return focus to Cullentra House, besides all of those listed a couple of paragraphs above, not all that long ago, Conor McNamara, at least one of the Brouder brothers, Luke McGuinness and Luke Dempsey were on the books in the Longwood yard. Mention of the last named of the above is what prompted production of what you are reading. Somewhere online over the weekend, an article encountered made the brow on the one seeing eye to stand to attention.
That being the fact that former talented jump jockey Luke Dempsey has now set up home in Australia having gone for a working holiday before he (a) decided to stay on out there and (b) turned his attention to the flat and – judging by comments seen attributed to the racing media Down Under, the son of trainer Philip has made quite the impression.
Which is, naturally, great to see, but it does emphasise what is the elephant in the room with regard to Irish racing – the fact that there are far more (good) jockeys here than there is work for them to do. Jockeys kind of, well, drifting out of the sport is nothing new. Off the top of my head, Shane Shortall, Adam Short, Anthony Fox, the aforementioned McGuinness, one very close to home and Barry Browne are just some of the pilots one can think of just fading off the Irish scene in recent years.
That’s not counting David Mullins who, for some reasons best known to himself, swapped the parade ring for the sales ring. One of the biggest wastes of talent I’ve seen in sport for a long time. To my mind, a better rider than Paul Townend or Patrick Mullins or Danny Mullins – to name but a few.
Outside of him even, though, it at least feels like there are a bigger number of riders going to ply their trade overseas than has been the case for a long number of years. Before getting to the more recent departures, I think of the perhaps forgotten Irishman abroad, Sean McDermott, who has carved out a career for himself in jump racing Stateside. Much like Meath’s own Ross Geraghty did years ago as well.
However, as was hinted at some lines back, there definitely seems to be more Irish lads headed for the departure lounge than had been the case for a long time.
You have the likes of Jack Hogan, Dylan Johnston, Conor Rabbitte, Daire McConville, Michael O’Sullivan* and Shane Fenelon who seem to only have gone over – either full time or sporadically – in the very recent past.
Fenelon’s move, of course, may well have been prompted by the ludicrous and unjust suspension meted out to John ‘Shark’ Hanlon on foot of some busy body sending video footage into somewhere they had no business doing.
On the subject of the gentle giant from Kilkenny, though, it was so frustrating to see Hewick again withdrawn at Cheltenham last week. Another defection out of another big race. Though not as farcical as the novice chase referred to at the beginning of this piece.
Or indeed the forthcoming Hattons Grace Hurdle in Fairyhouse which only attracted FOUR ENTRIES. How is such an abomination allowed to happen? Pondering that, mind you, is not a dig at Peter Roe or his team at my local track. Or, indeed, at race sponsor Barney O’Hare. So much work has gone into promoting and improving the facilities and quality of racing at the Ratoath venue, yet it never seems to get the same of support as certain other venues.
Whose fault that is anybody’s guess. HRI, owners or trainers or a combination of all of the above? Blame, of course, serves no purpose but, the other side of that coin is, having three and four runners in Graded races is as deplorable as it is unsustainable.
Now, I do not claim to have a silver bullet solution, but, what you can be absolutely sure is that doing nothing is not an option. The easy answer will be ‘there’s no point taking on Mullins or Elliott’. My answer to that – you definitely won’t beat them if you don’t try.
Firstly, go back to the Florida Pearl. That Willie didn’t even run something in it seems inexplicable. Or how, for example, none of Henry De Bromhead, Joseph O’Brien, Gavin Cromwell or Barry Connell hadn’t a representative to line out.
Many may not think these two items are connected, but one is equally as important and potentially harmful to Irish racing as the other. Exhibit A – trainers having copious runners in valuable handicaps. Exhibit B – pitiful numbers fielding in Graded races.
Let’s take each matter separately. In terms of the handicaps, depending on the size of entry/declared runners, would it be worth splitting fields so as to give more trainers the opportunity to run horses. To make matters any way fair, I believe it’s imperative to limit the number of runners a given trainer can have in a handicap, or per division thereof. Incidentally, by dividing, reference is being made to a scenario akin to, what I believe is called the Ayr Silver Cup. Though I despise the following description – a ‘consolation’ contest – generally ran under the same conditions with commensurate prize money.
Applying the jump leads to the Graded races may take something a bit nuanced but the fact is, again, drastic remedial action is required. I know there were rumblings some months back about staging a series in races in which the top four or five entities in the Trainers Championship would be precluded from partaking, but, unsurprisingly, that was swiftly declared a non runner.
However, what if, rather than preventing the elite from fielding in certain races, there were greater incentives for those outside the higher echelons to at least aim towards having a horse fit to step up to Graded company.
How about, say, running a series of races on a league basis with the first three or four earning points and prize money. Then, all those who end up in the qualification slots at the end of the series have the option of running in a Graded race if they so wish. Or alternatively, they can just keep the garnered winnings – which then automatically moves them upward in the trainer standings.
Yes, I realise, to paraphrase Status Quo, what I’m proposin’ is basically a replication of the Pertemps Networks Handicap Hurdle Series. Therein, a series of ‘qualifier” races are run on both sides of the Irish Sea. With the top four or five from each such contest qualifying for a run in the Pertemps Final at the Cheltenham Festival should they wish to avail of it.
Anyone musing ‘The big boys will win the big races regardless of what anyone does’ should consider the case of greyhound trainer Paul Hennessy who annexed a Cheltenham Festival with the only racehorse he had in training.
The bottom line is if something is not done shortly to entice stakeholders to run their horses in decent, or indeed top level, races, it will be back to the bad old days of as many Irish horses going for export as there are jockeys. Surely nobody wants that.