Even without any distraction from the modern day God of football, we are now immersed in what is arguably the busiest and most important sporting weekend of 2019 in Great Britain. Horse racing is involved but the drawback is that the few quality events are lost in a maze of endless handicaps after handicaps.
The race many of us still fondly refer to as the Magnet Cup has terrific prize money on offer but this produces what is now the norm in valuable handicaps; a compact weighed field that renders it unlikely for a progressive three year old brimming with potential to get into the race.
It is not only the unexposed maiden or conditions winner from a showcase yard that will not make the cut; even the progressive handicappers from the classic crop tend not to have attained a rating high enough at this stage of their careers. And anything that fits that rare but pulse racing category of one who has shown themself a different beast since the weights were framed, would be just as unlikely to have the rating to get a run.
These events yearn for the extra angles they once offered. A runner in the Medicean mould would have had today's event buzzing. After the framing of the weights for this race back in 2000, he showed himself a high class colt to finish a close third third behind Giant's Causeway in the St James Palace Stakes.
We know he ran disappointingly, never getting into the thick of things from an outside draw, but his presence was the talking point on the run up to the race. It grabbed the attention. Side with him or against him. A poser that may have endeared a few new people to the game.
Medician did eventually win two Group One events. The rating he raced off at York, a 102 on the strength of successes in conditions events, would have gained him access on the 2019 final line up but that is generally not the norm now.
The pattern changes in the heart of Autumn with most of the slow maturing three year olds who are potentially Group class showing a tangible level of form by this stage to make the cut in these events. As an example, even Halling would have got in by the skin of his teeth in last year's Cambridgeshire.
What would benefit from addressing though is the fact that up to and including the Ebor meeting this is rarely the case, with most of the progressive three year olds now finding themselves rated out of these races.
This is not to say that the massive prize money injection into the Ebor itself is not welcome. The sight of Listed and Group class horses, some still on the upgrade with the potential to reach the top, racing in big field events run at a true pace is far preferable to a six runner, tactically run Group 3.
What would add a welcome arm to a race of this status would be a potential St Leger winner taking his place in the field. The chances of this would be secured by going with the spirit of the day and having quotas, whereby say for example three places are reserved for the three year old entrants with the three highest ratings.
Understandably, if you were connected to an older horse who under the present rules would have got in you would be raging by your place being stolen by a lower rated animal, but for the good of the game it would surely be worth it.
Some would say that the three year olds now have their own valuable Ebor in the Melrose, not to mention that the Great Voltigeur is there for the Leger horses. But the Voltigeur is hardly going to be damaged by probably no more than one entrant being diverted and adding oomph to the Ebor.
Come to think of it, when was the last time an Ebor winner was considered a serious St Leger challenger? Probably Mediterranian eighteen years back who was to be pulled up after sustaining an injury at Town Moor. But before then you have to go back to Guy Harwood 's grey Crazy after his York success under Walter Swinburn in 1984.
Three three year olds ran in that renewal, all winners in handicaps last time out and reappearing under penalties. Joining Crazy, who had won at Newmarket, were two Epsom trained runners. The Geoff Lewis trained Rough Pearl was backed down to 3/1 favouritism after a comfortable success at the big Goodwood meeting. The other in the category was John Sutcliffe's Diabolical Liberty, another winner from the same festival.
The presence of these three added that something little extra to the race. It took little away from the following race on the card, the Great Voltigeur as nothing stood a chance with Rainbow Quest anyway.
Crazy next ran the race of his life in an above standard renewal of the final classic, finishing fourth, beaten less than two lengths by the superb Commanche Run.
And to hammer home the sparkle that those of classic age can add to a race like this, how about 1976, with Ryan Price's Sir Montagu, another arriving after a comfortable success at Goodwood, taking up the running before three furlongs out on the Knaveshmire and drawing clear under Willie Carson to win by eight lengths pulling up.
Another three year old, the Michael Stoute trained Shangamuzo finished third. He would win the 1978 Ascot Gold Cup. Oddly enough, the runner up at York was the future Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Alverton, then a six year old.
Returning to the Magnet Cup; it's thirty six years since the admirable and future top class Bedtime won the race off 7st 9lb. Since then, ten three year olds have taken this prestigious event but signficantly none since Wigmore Hall in 2010. This is unlikely to change today and this is to the detriment of these events.
It cannot be repeated enough that a love for the sport will result in lifetime punting. Apart from the July Cup it is mainly bland fare on offer today in which those looking into the sport are more likely to be put off than drawn in.
Fields of mainly exposed solid stalwarts are all good and well but these showcase handicaps need the conundrum of a runner that gets the fizz into the fans. We seem to remember these runners years after, far more so than your win in turn horses. Unfortunately, the valuable handicaps run today will pass by unoticed and soon forgotten, something that is becoming the norm on most weekends now.
image in public domain
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