There’s something very fitting about what you will read hereafter appearing around the same time as the completion of the third round of soccer’s FA Cup.
Therein have been some of the greatest upsets ever seen in any sport. Such as Northampton’s expulsion of Manchester United or Arsenal being ousted by Wrexham a decade and a bit later.
Switch codes to rugby and you had Connacht quite literally coming from the point of extinction to win the URC – as it is now – or, long before that, Munster defeating the All Blacks in Thomond Park.
And it happens in horse racing too. Look no further than modestly stocked but gifted operators like Adrian Murray and Pat O’Donnell or Meath’s own Gerry Keane sampling glory at no less than Royal Ascot. Or, if you feel the need to switch the parameters to National Hunt fare, just consider people such as the late Tom Foley or the Bowe family or (primarily) greyhound man Paul Hennessy mixing it with the big boys on the biggest of stages.
It is for that reason alone that issue would be taken with Vincent Finegan’s latest blog on irishracing.com which is headed ‘DRF (Dublin Racing Festival) dependent on Mullins and Elliott’. The basis of the statement being that they hold 47 and 32 entries respectively for the Grade One contests across the two days. While I would concur that it is indeed disappointing that none of Henry De Bromhead or Gavin Cromwell or Joseph O’Brien have decent numbers entered in the big races (six, three and six respectively), in an overall sense, it takes more than that to ‘sell’ jump racing to the non aficionados.
Unpalatable though it may be, the facts are that the handful named above – with honourable mentions for Noel Meade and Barry Connell – are the ones with representatives of sufficient quality to go into battle at the very highest level. That, however, need not be used as a stick to beat the viability of the DRF with.
Rather, doesn’t it exalt the need to have and value in having as broad a programme of races as is possible during what is a combined celebration and sales pitch of all that is good about Irish racing. With regard to the non appearance of Messrs Nicholls, Henderson and Skelton – with the exception of Constitution Hill – that’s because in all probability, their top horses would lose to ours in Leopardstown and again during the second week of March. That’s not meant by way of arrogance or cockiness. Outside of Henderson’s gargantuan two mile hurdler, what other British trained runner would you consider a banker? Most likely Jonbon, but don’t discount Energumene there.
Mind you, rather than focusing on all the ‘big names’, both equine and human, my gut instinct would be don’t discount the others. Either in Foxrock shortly or at the foot of Clieve Hill in about two months. Vincent’s point in terms of the big three from over the water is of course valid.
However, rather than pigeon holing that it’s ‘only’ the likes of James Owen, Warren Greatrex, Harry Fry, Paddy Neville (who is actually a Clareman only recently decamped to foreign shores) and Fergal O’Brien (a son of the Rebel County cast in the role of expat for quite a while now) would it not make more sense – and be fairer – to see their backing of the DRF as an endorsement of the quality of Irish racing and, in particular, that the prize money here dwarfs that available in Britain.
Without even bringing monetary matters into the mix, though, it is possible – if indeed not probable – that you could have other Irish operators, astute but for whatever reason less heralded than the so-called big guns, such as Pat Foley (son of the late Tom) and Jimmy Mangan and Eoin Griffin and Eoin Doyle and ‘Mouse’ Morris (in recent times) and possibly even Lorna Fowler field competitors with genuine and justified hopes of having an impact on proceedings. Not only at the DRF, but also on the greatest stage of all on the lead in to St Patrick’s Day.
But then, I think sometimes it’s part of the Irish psyche to always err on the side of the glass half empty approach. Believe me, I am more guilty than most or than many might believe due to what is often a complete dearth of self confidence. However, in the world of sport alone, we’ve an awful habit of trying to find vast quantities of reasons as to why it won’t work out as desired. Even though we may have the best practitioners of the craft in question. Whether it be, say, Rory McIlroy in golf or our rugby team.
And there’s certainly no need to be selling ourselves short in terms of horse racing.
Leave a Reply