The season does not feel that far gone, yet when we get past Royal Ascot the truth is the pinnacle of it has already sailed by. It is the stage at which you step back and dread the come down. It's akin to coming to the end of a holiday and dreading returning to work the following week.
What is so important for racing is that the seasonal narrative leads on to the next big meeting in which there will be an anticipated build up as the key races take shape. While it is a narrative that must be must be drummed home to those casually tuning in to the sport, it is now harder than ever before to generate a buzz from what follows.
A further downside is that it gives a window of opportunity for those very persistent supporters of some of the proposed daft innovations, such as team style racing based on a Grand Prix points system, to air their voices. Only two groups of people could possibly support such nonsense; those with their finger in the pie who will make a quick buck from it, and secondly those think it benefits to try any new idea sod the consequences. These have no traditional feel for the sport.
So, as we get the pulse back to norm after Ascot, we have to live with the new look Pitman's Derby, the nearest event we had to the Melbourne Cup but now a dreary spectacle run on sand. Yesterday's race was interesting to watch as the final stages unfolded but anyone claiming that the contest has not had some of its soul taken from it since it was taken off turf is either a liar with an agenda, an in vogue modernist, or a twenty something year old.
Then at teatime came the Irish Derby, a race that can range from an above average looking Epsom winner confirming his standing, or in a year such as this, a mumbly jumbly group reopposing from Epsom looking more like Leger and future Ascot Gold Cup sorts.
It turned out to be a ' what was that all about ?' accompanied by baffled exhaling. No idea what casual viewers would make of it all. The winning jockey could be the subject of a comic strip. Leading the normal life in disguise, mowing the lawn, food shopping, painting the gate. Then the call comes in, he has been chosen for an assignment in a big race.His mission, to defy all odds and win. Off come the cap and dark shades, on go the silks.
In fact such little interest does the sport per se generate with the general public you could tell people that Padraig Beggy is kept fresh for the big occasions, and that whenever he is booked for a ride in a big race it means connections really fancy their horse. Keep a straight face and they will belive you.
We know now that the one who came on by a ton from the English version was not in the line up. If Japan missed had Ascot and turned up yesterday the talk would have been of how he cut down and passed the runaway leaders having appeared to have given them too much leeway.
Looking to the near future the Eclipse can be a real buzz race, seeing the three year old classic crop taking on the elders, but following on the King George has partly lost its mojo down the years.It was once the duty of connections of a Derby winner to line up at Ascot if they considered their colt to have claims to being a champion.
Nijinsky, Mill Reef, Grundy, The Minstrel, Troy all succeeded on the 1970's, Shergar, Nashwan, plus Teenoso a year later in the 1980's, Generous and Lammtara in the 1990's, but none since Galileo in 2001. In fact no Epsom winner has attempted to win the Ascot race since Workforce in 2010.
For racing fans it leaves a void. That final weekend in July, the weather generally agreeable, schools breaking up for holidays, and a Derby winner facing the cream of the older middle distance brigade. The race had now adopted a different shape and is not the must go for event it once was. As a result we don t count down the days as the race approaches anymore. Just another Group 1.
Maybe this year the field will include the the Eclipse winner, plus Japan, Masar, Crystal Ocean, Magical., Anthony Van Dycke, plus that group of solid true Group 2 performers who may have nicked a Group 1. They will provide some depth to the event. We live in hope.
The July Cup fixture once possessed an almost gentle quaintness, concluding on a Thursday. It's now another fixture that has lost its identity, the big race crammed into a hectic peak of summer Saturday with its importance diminished, along with it's presence diminishing the John Smith's Cup which had been long established as the focus of that mid -July Saturday.
Chester,of course,has its original and what was at one time it's only summer fixture on the same day. A visual gaudy mess of corporate tents, joined by the increasing number of solid fittings that are bars, along with the Pim's stands and theme bars such as the one that takes the shape of a traditional red bus.
The latest innovation is to be a brand new stand after the winning post, not the most viewer friendly location for those who would consider themselves racing fans. However, when it was stated that " the City of Chester needs a conference center", then we realise that the once enjoyable venue has a covering all options agenda.
Even in the eyes of the glass half full brigade, the first half of the 2019 flat season has not been a vintage one for both the fans of the sport, and the sport itself. We need some fireworks in the next few months to come from top class thoroughbreds, not trashy concert evenings.
image - used under creative commons license
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