A SPORT LOSING ITS WAY

Television viewing figures must always be viewed with cynicism, particularly so when they are used as evidence to back up a claim that a struggling sport such as horse racing is experiencing a rebirth in popularity amongst the general populace, a theory that flies against the prevailing wind.

If any racing fan had been unwise enough to think that last Saturday presented the opportunity to encourage some indifferent soul to the sport to sit back, pay attention, then see if they had warmed to it, then they would now be regretting the decision.

It's akin to the times when we've been hooked on a sitcom, implored others to watch it, only for that particular episode to be a rare below par production. And on Saturday those causing the spike by switching over briefly to watch the main event, many already in front of the television having watched a Premiership football match which concluded five minutes before the race started, with many preparing for the next match kicking off half an hour after the end of the race, would have been as engaged as someone tuning into the Tour de France but failing to feel a buzz watching continued domination for Team Sky come Team Ineo.

Horse racing has become adept at using other more popular sports to ride on the back of and pick up viewers, and while Premiership football in particular is in for a rocky ride, it will still remain in a different stratosphere to racing in the popularity stakes. To put things into perspective, horse race broadcasting  has now for many years had to adjust programme times for a wide range of bigger viewer attractions from Countdown to Grand Prix practice, so will always be thrashed by football despite that sport bring a dreadful spectacle at the moment.

They say that the golfers who were at their peak during Tiger Wood's long lasting period of a dominance previously unknown were born unlucky, with the fates conspiring that resulted in a situation that gaining a victory in not only the majors, but in regular PGA Tour events, would be a task with an extra obstacle added.

A similar story has unfolded in European flat horse racing. No one in the press will dare say it. If they did it would not be personal criticism of individuals, rather regret in how things have evolved with the result that the sport is a less gripping spectacle than at any time during the past seventy five years.

Instead, those that broadcast the sport take the cop out route by reminding us that we should be thankful that Coolmore choose to pit their strongest combinations against one another in our top races. On the forums many threads attract more readers than articles in the racing press and on which many of the sane contributors have a better knowledge of the sport than most of the contemporary racing media.

In one thread on the Betfair Forum someone asked a pertinent question that someone with a clear, uncluttered mind process may wonder about. The post headline asked, " If Aiden Is God Then How Come His Sons Can Win Group 1's Straight  Away ", alluding to the fact that following on from J. P. O'Brien producing a Moyglare Stud Stakes triumph soon after setting up, whether Donnacha O'Brien in training the Prix de Diane winner just months into his training career was evidence that it's completely all about the quality of horse a trainer receives.

This is a subject that racing fans are far more interested in than some of the inane nonsense chatted about in broadcasts. Remember, some say that sharing out the Coolmore reared yearlings was trialed but this is not the case. David Wachman was given a steady but restricted stream of animals and probably performed no worse or better than would have been the norm expected, and while many years back their were rumours that John Hammond would be receiving a share in numbers not too far lower than at Ballydoyle they remained just rumours and did not materialize.

This would make fascinating TV discussion but it's not a subject the present racing media will go near. I'm quite sure it is something that Julian Wilson would have brought up, perhaps John Oaksey too whose willingness to play a stereotypical role on TV to fit in with the title would conceal for the casual viewer his intelligence and knowledge of the game. His Mill Reef book is one of the most enjoyable racing reads ever. I'm sure he would be dismayed at the present state of the flat game.

It was the norm to label a trainer lucky for being able to saddle a fancied runner in the Derby the year after fielding a colt similarly in the mix, regardless of how they performed. I sometimes find it hard to believe that when Peter Walwyn saddled Oats to finish third in the 1976 Derby, it would be the last time he would have a runner reaching the frame in the race. This only a year after training Grundy to win the same race. And he would continue to hold a license for a further twenty years too! 

It's a fine example of how the gold seal jam was spread wide. Nothing could be taken for granted. And anyone thinking M V O'Brien had shelves full of Northern Dancers should look through Horses In Training editions from the 1970's. They will be surprised. It made it such a more enthralling sport to follow.

If the modern TV racing broadcasters examined the balance of power in the flat game they would cop out, or at least would come up with a conclusion that would sound like a cop out even if it wasn't - with the usual, the cream rises to the top, Lewis Hamilton has the best drive for a reason ect

If they never used the multitude of M C Pipe examples, they could cite Venn Ottery as a magnificent example of how a showcase trainer improved a horse from a small set up into something with a rating five stone superior. Examples of flat trainers taking in an exposed animal racing on the level that finds such dramatic improvement racing in the same sphere are rare outside of the sprinting ranks.

A P O'Brien squeezed perhaps a small amount of improvement from the already high class Excelebration - though compared with Michael Dickinson who was put at the helm at Manton, unproven in the flat racing arena, it highlights just how spectacularly unsuccessful that venture was to think that Barry Hills came in to rescue the project and improved many of the charges, including turning Handsome Sailor into a Nunthorpe winner, an animal who had been purchased from the yard of Ron Thompson to be used as a lead horse on the gallops for Dickinson's babies.

But the area most of the media would be unwilling to delve to deeply into would be the one on the lines of Fernando Alonso being the best driver pound for pound - in racing the topical equivalent would be how John Oxx or Dermot Weld would fare with the full Coolmore support behind them.

It is the type of debate that would swing back and forth, going from trainer being a genius tag to just good, precise, devolving of powers to the most talented staff available, along with the reality that the Galileos are available on tap and will be for the next five years at the very least.

On that note, even if infirmity set in suddenly, Coolmore would still be in a much stronger position than when Sadler's Wells was well past middle age with In The Wings and El Prado his two most successful stallion sons, despite all the racing stars that he had been churning out regularly  - that was until Montjieu and Galileo came along to start a new chapter.

On what the racing broadcasters are willing to deliberate candidly over could just possibly be changing. For who would have expected ITV racing to have a realistic discussion today over the consequences of the Covid 19 crisis which concluded with the message that racing was not out of the woods yet, with a scaling down of the sport still a possibility.

Maybe this was on the agenda because it was a sensible Thursday . I somehow doubt it would be on the schedule on smiley, dumb down Saturday when all is well in the house of racing. Most would hope differently.
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