A SPORT THAT HAS COMPLETELY LOST THE PLOT

That we really do finally seem to be returning to normality after seventeen months in the doldrums may be the much sought after lifeline that many involved racing have been holding out for in a sport which has taken a bigger hit than most and in which the majority of participants away from the very top spheres will not have been financially equipped to withstand a continuation of the restrictions.

But for many it will already be too late as pre-covid this was a sport much in need of a solution to provide a better funding model and it must be remembered that some racing professionals even took strike action in protest against what they considered to be meager prize money levels at the ARC courses - though some may say that amid a fixture list too big to thrive, the prize money was befitting of the general low quality of animal that filled the cards.

Those pesky protesters probably wish they could turn the clock back as the financial state of the sport is now a tier deeper in the mire with many bracing themselves for the fall out from the covid crisis that will have a detrimental affect for many years to come. 

There has been no plus side. When the circuit started back up last June to deliver a topsy turvy, asterisk season, marked by one of the most forgetful runnings of the Epsom Derby ever, some saw it as a big opportunity for the sport to pull in new viewers with less competition from the other traditional midsummer sports and a postponed Euro Championship in the football, a postponed Olympics, a cancelled Wimbledon, and cancelled Open Golf.

In reality though horse racing lost its mojo long ago and has fallen behind the other major sports of which it once could compete with. And let no one kid themselves - the  type of people who would become smitten watching the sport on TV during the lockdown are the same category who have been following the Olympic coverage over the past few weeks and familiarising themselves with names the general public are not familiar with and sports of which the general public have no grasp of the rules.

Certain races are fair barometers to guage the engagement level with the sport. One is the traditional midsummer highlight of the King George V1 Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes. This years renewal  promised  to be a cracker and as things turned out the event received a boost by falling to the present Epsom Derby winner - it was once an expected target of any Derby winner who aspired to go on to stake his claim to top the all aged middle distant rankings and the race had been much the poorer that it's now skipped by many, though it was only the underfoot conditions that hastened Golden Horn's withdrawal, the last above the norm Epsom Victor.

This year was the first running that I have not seen in real time since 1975. I would guess that many other maturing long term racing fans are beginning to gradually put many things racing lower down the order of priorities, as they find it is morphing into something they neither get a buzz over or respect very much anymore.

I recall, around fifteen years ago, recognising that my enthusiasm for the game must be waining when I was in the stands as the runners entered the stalls for the Chester Vase, reading a preview of the forthcoming Player's Championship at Sawgrass, and finding the prospect of settling down in the house to watch all four days of the Golfing event preferable than being at a course that has changed for the worse, hosting a sport that too has seen better days.

Since then Chester had continued to slide downwards thanks to the business model that dictates how the course operates. A modus operandi to take advantage of the cult status that the course holds for large throngs of people who could at anytime be enticed away from visiting racecourses to any rival attraction with a good supply of alcohol, that becomes fashionable.

Back to King George day - I was going from pub to pub in and around a Welsh town, packed with citizens proudly wearing  British and Irish Lions shirts. No sign of anything racing anywhere, no hearing of conversations anything racing, and in all the pubs with screens, only Cricket was showing apart from the dominant Rugby - and this from as early as 1pm, four hours prior to the starting time down in South Africa. 

The decline of horse racing's popularity in the UK is picking up pace, masked in parts by the large crowds that frequent the cult venues. They say one of the barriers to the sport halting its freefall is that the main stakeholding bodies are unable to blend in harmony, as the only aspect that seems to be consensual across the board is the toleration of a blatant sell out to the modern woke trends.

The appalling Ladbrokes advert, the just know you know one, seems to infer that betting on horses is more popular than it really is, with the masses involved daily as though every day was Grand National day, and with it spread equally across racial groups, sexes, and orientations. It's also damn annoying, even more so than that group of odd characters which were in those cringeworthy ' the Ladbroke life'  commercials.

Then we have these adverts for ' Diva Racing'  which is a very curious name indeed for a horse racing syndicate. The characters portraying the owners are seen hovering around a yard, probably to the frustration of those carrying out their tasks, that is, if you pretend they are real or maybe they are. Then there is that character in the green T shirt who appears to have taken up a hands on role or why else would he be opening the door on a horse transporter? Have never seen so called owners cast like this but of course they could not resist a shot of them drinking glasses of bubbly though I've no idea why they would do this walking around the stables.

This is the image that all the influential parties in the sport wish to beam out. It fits snuggly with the increasing tendency to give every gimmick a try - the doomed to fail team competition being the latest. No doubt there will be further attempts along the line to bring in ' city racing'.  They'll not give up on this idea, a frightful one which really does have the potential to produce a catastrophic accident, warts and all, that will make the sport appear crueller than any of the historic Grand Nationals ever could.

It would be a sin to take a glass half full attitude to the present state of UK racing as wherever you look, there are a shadows in every corner of the sport. It can't be repeated enough that not only has it seen better days that won't return, but that it could be on its way out.

This from an album that was released three days before the mighty Mill Reef won the 1971 King George. Since then music has gone down the swanny to the same degree as racing. This track is typical of what would be playing when you wander inadvertently into some Hell's Angels bar abroad.

MAKING THE SPORT A LAUGHING STOCK

Fittipaldi and Peterson( pictured) during the time they were team mates at the formidable JPS sponsored Lotus run by another legend in Colin Chapman. Hard to resist downloading wonderfully nostalgic images of such icons in the team garage or pit lane. Can say the same about Lauda and Regazzoni, or Stewart and Cevert. Christ, those lot were as hard as nails.

Not to denigrate the dangers, injuries and deaths that have taken their toll on jockeys down the years, but trying a ludicrous team concept in horse racing in the belief that randomly put together racing teams can create the same awe of that inspired in Grand Prix racing is doomed to fail.

Seb Vettel may look a cool dude in one of those tried across most sports, folding the arms lark, but it doesn't create the same affect when it's Luke Morris doing the deed. Similar when in mid race when they might zone in on the two Ferrari's of Berger and Alboreto. Somehow, noting where Team eToro Racing's runners are after two furlongs does not work so unsuited is racing for this concept.

It made uncomfortable viewing. So called 'Team Managers' and trainers grouped together, wearing baseball caps - it could indeed have been a garage scene from a Grand Prix, or on the touch line in American Football. And all the time the proceedings being hyped up by the presenters.

Let's get this straight. It will not work long term. In fact it will be a total failure, gradually petering out. At first there will be some tampering, then the ratmatazz will go down a notch, and finally the whole show will disappear. No doubt at some cost too with plenty of no marks receiving large remunerations with the forces behind its creation getting away scot free. No one will be standing up and claiming responsibility. That's a certainty.

Anyone pointing to the longevity of the pretty awful Shergar Cup then using that to further an assertion that this latest gimmick will establish itself is forgetting that the Ascot competition was partly copied from those international jockey's events that began in the 1970's - we tolerated them back then as it was a chance to see the the likes of Cordero, McCarron, the mighty Shoemaker and the already acclimitising Cauthen in a different environment.  

Bill Shoemaker mesmerised viewers with one or two of his rides, shushing those who had scoffed at him after the 1978 Derby when he allowed Hawaiian Sound to drift away from the rail down the camber, letting Starkey come through on the rails on Shirley Heights to steal the race. 

Still, it was a one off. And the later installed  Shergar Cup, if anything, gives genuine racing fans the chance to spend a Saturday resting the mind and putting all thoughts of the sport out of their minds.

This team league event is something much more deeply structured and laughably takes itself seriously, something that the aforementioned event cannot be accused of. Those with their fingers in the promotion pie and who are earning money from voicing pretend positives will be hoping it thrives and survives, an outcome that thankfully there is little chance of happening.

I lasted for two races then took to my box sets in watching two episodes of the The Protectors, with the likes of Ralph Bates, Angela Douglas and Joanne Lumley making appearances. Then I viewed one of my favourite episodes of The Persuaders. The one with Joan Collins in. Was meant to be Rome but was filmed in Nice. Collins commented later that Moore and Curtis nearly came to blows several times during filming - the perpetrator mostly the rough and ready, short fused Curtis, in contrast to Moore, the self controlled,suave son of a high ranking military man.

What's this got to do with racing? Nothing at all directly but it's much more preferable to the embarrassment that was being staged at Newcastle. If racing is going to go down this route, a carefully selected bottle of red allied to viewing 1970's box sets will be a happy replacement.

What makes it all the more galling is that this week has been forty five years to the exact week that we had that most enjoyable Glorious Goodwood during that long, seemingly never ending drought of 1976. It was staged on ground described mainly as ' Good to Firm', thus watering must have been permitted - something that the climate change obsessed society would never have permitted to happen now, though back in that time there was generally more concern about the possibility of an ice age backed up by certain  scientists. If such an intense drought had happened now, it's unlikely we'd be racing on turf at the moment.

That 1976 Glorius Goodwood was Noel Murless's last as a trainer and he took the Richmond Stakes with his final truly top class animal J O Tobin, who at the end of the season was transferred Stateside by his American owner where he was campaigned with great success in a golden period for the sport over there.

Another memory of that meeting is when J O Tobin's Goodwood partner Piggott was aboard the almost white General Ironside in the Gordon Stakes, finishing third in an exciting finish behind Smuggler and Oats. We were told at the time how Henry Cecil thought General Ironside would progress into a genuinely top class stayer. He never quite made it. Had plenty of representatives in his second career as a jumping stallion too where he admittedly proved himself a fairish sire.

Other lasting memories of that meeting being Wollow in the Sussex, the admirable Peter Robinson trained stayer Mr Bigmore claiming the Goodwood Cup and the stayer's handicap won by Sea Anchor in the Dick Hollingsworth colours.

That was also the very week that the incredulous Lasse Viren came back to form at the Montreal Olympics and repeated his Munich feat of winning firstly the 10,000 meters, then the 5,000 metres a few days later. One can't help but think that apart from the golfers and that dodgy weightlifter, there will be little to remember from this present disaster of an Olympics.

Of Goodwood this week - well in the modern European racing world where the jam is in fewer jars than ever before there was a reasonably pleasing spread of results. With the Sussex Stakes we had a likeable if below par winner for the race in Alcohol Free, the same applying to the Goodwood Cup winner, but all taking an interest could not have failed to be wowed by Baeed, who is looking the real deal and there is nothing like a new star who promises to top the ranks emerging from nowhere in the middle of the season.

But even without rose tinted spectacles, it's clear the sport was in a better place during that drought year than it is now. Even with the inflation, whispers of threats of communism on the horizon, with an exodus of potential investors, the future of the sport was not under the same level of threat as it is now. It sold itself in traditional form and Gimmicks were not required.

image Deviant Art

From an album released late in 1972, would have been in thousands of households as Glorious Goodwood 1976 was being staged. Maturing racing fans may find this album amongst their parents vinyl collection.

RACING'S WASTAGE TRUTHS OUT IN THE OPEN

While the Panorama documentary was always going to paint horse racing in bleak colours, the first real indication of just how damaging it could be was apparent when  Saturday's ITV racing production went more overboard than they normally do with extra effort put into their customary ' how well horses are cared for ' features, with horses in fields being fed carrots, horses in equine swimming pools and horses in equine solariums, not too mention trumping up the prospect of September's National Racehorse Week in July.

If they discuss it this coming weekend God only knows what angle they will put on it for racing' s dirty secret is now out in the open and gone are the days when the powers that be will be able to be open over what are really non welfare issues such as so called whip 'abuse' from striking 80 stone animals with a cushioned stick, or the strangely newly recognised menace of low sunlight, while at the same time grateful that the biggest welfare crisis in the game is hidden away from the general populace.

To be honest, the ITV team would be better off not to acknowledge the programme but at the same time cutting down on the gushy ' racehorses are so lucky pitch ' - because there is presently such a smugness in the broadcasts that they will be digging themselves into a deeper hole.

Ironically, Luke Harvey cut his teeth at the legendaryTim Forster's yard, and ageing racing fans may recall that a good few decades back there was a written feature on racehorse aftercare in a racing publication and Forster made it clear that he went out of his way to ensure the animals he trains are found new homes and unless irrepairably and seriously injured, strives for this rather than responsible, humane euthanization, concluding that the animals would prefer longevity.

The Panorama episode had the potential to have been even more damning, for while they did refer to a figure of 4,000 thoroughbreds who had been in training in GB & Ireland ending up in abattoirs since 2019, they could then easily have shone the torch on the massive stallion books allied to the ballooned fixture list - then asked the question of what will happen to the masses racing at the lower levels whose owners may be feeling the pinch of the financial fall out from the Covid crisis.

And while since racing first began slaughterhouses have been the final stop for large numbers of young, reasonably healthy thoroughbreds, the numbers in training in recent years make it inevitable that the wastage rate is now numerically higher than anytime during the last century.

Admittedly, we would be naive to pretend that mistreatment in abattoirs is not widespread across the whole cattle processing sphere as the evidence is abundant and lucid and seems to be found on most occasions when the animal lib groups record video evidence - but while most of us will not really give too much thought to these issues when making a beef casserole or snacking on a tongue butty, racehorses are perceived on a higher plaine, are sometimes wrongly attributed with human characteristics, and draw in human attachment very easily.

One of the unfortunate animals featured in the programme, Vyta Du Roc, would have been familiar to all racing fans having been a regular at the showcase National Hunt meetings, often appearing in some of the sport's showcase events, and on some occasions being one of the leading players.

No wonder that while the Racing Post did at least feature a picture of him in action today, the article was  not accompanied by the usual link to the horse in the database, which as the publication goes, is the rule rather than the exception. No doubt they did not wish to refresh any fading memories and invite readers to dwell on how the hell such a great servant and money earner could be offloaded to a grim ending just when he should have been beginning retirement or a less strenuous second career.

The last feature race he ran in was the old Whitbread in April 2019.  That was his last race from Nicky Henderson's yard but he continued to race in the colours of the long successful partnership of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede when moving to Gordon Elliott for his final four starts. He made the frame in the first three, all point to points, then made his final appearance when a ten year old on November 2019 over the Banks course at Punchestown, starting 5/1 second favourite but finishing amongst the tail enders with blood on his nostrils so likely bbv'ing, - not an uncommon occurrence. He is listed as dying this year as a twelve year old.

One suspects that as the worms emerge from this giant, dark container there will be many in the industry stabbing others in the back while making every effort to cover their own. It would be no surprise if some tried to portray it as an Irish problem while if truth be told the UK mainland and Irish racing communities are intertwined and in house fighting will only speed up the downfall of the sport at it's present level.

The wastage issue should have been seriously and actively addressed a long, long time back. Even amid a time when a long running, potent human plague dominates the daily news, it must be doubtful whether those running the sport can tidy this up and convince the public that the house is in order. They've only themselves to blame.

image 123rf.com

From an album released in 1972. When UK racing had a manageable fixture list with the jam spread wide and a containable thoroughbred population.

MEDDLING FOR NO GOOD REASON

The call for meddling with the set in stone, unbroken classic schedule does the rounds every so often. It usually comes in the form of a suggestion to delay the dates of the first four, but the latest proffering, from Richard Hoiles, is that consideration should be given to staging the Derby in July.

Hoiles is of the opinion that if a two month gap existed between Newmarket and Epsom, it would allow the public time to digest what had occurred in the Guineas and to take in the build up to Epsom, familiarising themselves with the main players as the shape of the race becomes clearer through further trials  - though he's not touched upon whether a 2,000 Guineas winner with a strong chance of staying the trip at Epsom would stay off the track for two months between races, or would he be expected to run at Royal Ascot, and if so, would the race planners advise the upgrading in status of the ten furlong Hampton Court or the King Edward, which has a purpose for the Derby also rans along with those who were not ready for Epsom.

One only needs to think about the scenario for a couple of minutes to realise that multiple conundrums will sprout up from nowhere. And what too of the Irish Derby - there is no doubt that as opposed to the two races complementing one another, which they have done for many decades now, they will instead become fierce rivals, and both will end up the poorer.

What of those winners of the Epsom race in the past who possessed towering physiques that had many doubting that they'd act around Epsom. Golden Fleece a fine example, Barney Curley being so convinced that the Nijinsky colt would be all at sea on the helter skelter gradients that he backed every over animal in the race with half a chance, taking such a financial hammering that he went on a sabbatical for a few months. Despite the M V O'Brien/ Sangster/Magnier love affair with Epsom you have to wonder that if at the time it was the choice of one race or the other, they would have plumped for the Curragh.

And as for the public familiarising themselves with the Derby prospects - well, we are in 2021 when the sport has a lower profile than ever before. The general public don't watch the Derby in the same numbers as they do the Grand National In Name Only Chase, and don't tune into Royal Ascot as they would the Cheltenham Festival.

And as alluded to by some voices within the sport, a July Derby will take the buzz away created by many unknowns going into the race as by that time some of the contenders who would have been leading fancies may have had their stamina exposed and would not be in the line up.

Whenever asked how the Epsom Derby and Prix de l' Arc de Triomphe relate to one another, the Aga Khan believes validly that the Derby discovers the animal, and the Longchamp event confirms whether they are outstanding. Of course, you could bring the other big all age events into the equation with the King George once a means of confirming how the leader of the middle distance three year old generation stands with the elders and while this year it is encouraging that the Epsom hero is an intended runner at Ascot, we can only hope that the older generation are truly represented too.

All the big, celebrated events go through phases during which you get a succession of victors below, or barely hitting average for the race, then a couple of outstanding performers may crop up in a short period of time. We are on a poor run of Derby winners at the moment but who knows whether Adayer will be the the animal that stands out from the last few winners - the form is already looking solid.

You can’t go praising the existence of the race when the three years roll of honour reads, Nijinsky, Mill Reef and Roberto, or Sinndar, Galileo, High Chaparral, but when the race goes through a spell where the winners are not going on to threaten to top the rankings in the middle distance sphere, suddenly call for changes to the race, time wise or distance wise, which others have done.

Truly outstanding racehorses are a rarity. Of the Epsom winners in the past decade Camelot, Australia and Golden Horn were all well above average, and fitting winners of the event. In their second career as stallions Camelot has been decent, but no more given his opportunities. Australia had been middling given his opportunities and it would appear with both that any of their sons going to stud are not going to stir the big flat breeders with much anticipation. Early signs are that Golden Horn will be a great disappointment as a sire and faith will already be waning.

Returning to merit on the racecourse - well, Sea The Stars (pictured) in 2009 was the last truly outstanding ( using the word in the sense of pure proven racecourse ability) Derby winner. You could make out a strong argument that he he was the best Derby winner since Generous in 1991 - or you could even look at the Derby winners that have hit the Timeform 140 rating during their careers. Sea The Stars received an end of year 140, the first winner of the Blue Riband to do so since Shergar in 1981, who likewise received the same rating.You have to go back to Mill Reef in 1971 with a 141 to find the previous animal to hit this magical benchmark. It would actually not be unrealistic to make a claim that Sea The Stars was the best Derby winner since Mill Reef. The case would be a strong one.

Thankfully Sea The Stars is an established first rate sire though it is a pity and a sign of the times that his highest rated son so far, Crystal Ocean, has started his stallion career with that insulting  'dual purpose' tag, meaning that the flat breeders were not sufficiently interested.  

However, hope is not yet lost for the former John Oxx inmate to make an impact in future pedigrees through his sons on the flat as just days ago, a certain Baeed stamped himself as a high class miler with unlimited potential who could even end the season as the best three year old colt in training. No can deny how exciting he is and if he lives up to expectations he would without doubt be a son of Sea The Stars who the top level flat breeders would want a piece of. 

On the subject of how the event  presently sits as a maker of the breed. It would be daft to be over nostalgic and pretend that the status of the race is the same as 100 years back. We have to live with the consequences of the global expansion of racing, international competition, and to accept that for a long time now the Kentucky Derby has been viewed as the Holy Grail of the sport, which has been one of the influences for the desire for breeders to want Epsom Derby winners to be able to have produced optimum form over a mile or a mile and a quarter.

But truth be told it's not so black and white. The just passed away Galileo, a well above average and visually impressive Derby and Irish Derby winner who then followed up with a battling success in the King George, was not on weights and measures form a truly outstanding performer on the track. He was able to produce a top class performance in defeat over ten furlongs but his optimum was the full twelve furlongs. His phenomenal record in his second career could not have been envisaged - once Sadler's Wells is gone, there will be no like for like replacement, was a sensible line of prediction.

At the end of the day the Epsom Derby ain't broken and who knows, from a run of recent below par runnings we may have an also ran who will contribute to the breed. I've seen one running live, it unfortunately being the year Quest For Fame triumphed, one of the worst winners of the event since WW2, and sandwiched between two terrific winners in Nashwan and Generous. 

However, there was an Andre Fabre trained also ran by the name of Linamix who has gone on to establish his name in the pedigrees of many successful performers. Ironically, it was Fabre who was questioning whether the race remains a significant breed shaping event just prior to Galileo taking the stallion world by storm.

It's often when the stones start getting thrown that the persercutors are made to look fools and those who in the case of the Derby want the the date in the calendar, the distance, or both, to be 'discussed' are in effect throwing stones and it would be fitting if the race produced a cluster of well above average winners over the next few years.

The sport as it stands is struggling like never before, it's popularity diminishing. Gambling with unnecessary changes to an event what has contributed so much to horse racing's existence is something that should never be open for discussion.

image -photo taken by author 

This from a live album from a concert that took place a month before Persain War won his third Champion  Hurdle, L'Escargot his first Gold Cup, and at a time when Nijinsky would be the talked about horse with the flat season in mind  - and when any mention of meddling with the Derby would be considered sacrilege.

DON'T BELIEVE A WORD THEY SAY

It's  hard to recall a time when UK racing has contained so many individuals in positions of power, or with public platforms to freely express their opinions, who are prepared to use these priveliged positions to promote their agendas.

We know there is a sinister wokeness winding it's way through the sport, with those spreading its word  often  having selfish motives, finding a niche that will provide them a meal ticket for the remainder of their careers - that is if their assessment of public opinion is correct.

There have also been some strange appointments - Anne Marie Phelps was brought in from the world of rowing to take the position as chair of the BHA. She may have held similar positions in her Olympian sport but listening to her being interviewed with her championing of modernisation and what she herself identifies as changing times, then you cannot help but conclude that there must have been more suitable candidates out there.

The racecourses themselves have some characters in positions of power who have taken the sport backwards rather than enhanced it. The sorry tale of the demise of Haydock Park's old, feared and respected steeplechase course, has been spitefully criticised multiple times around the forums,  particularly by those of us who visited regularly when it was in its pomp, but we'll never be given it back though many would chuckle if the present model, based on mopping up summer evening and weekend drinkers, nosedived in fortunes causing the venue to perish -  fact is, there are going to be hordes of people emerging from these lockdowns with less disposable income, and even those fully financially intact may have changed habits for good, as there are going to be more people who have transformed into oddballs than ever before.

Then we have Chester - they had a wake up call on their first welcoming of returning audiences when they failed to sell out to the numbers allowed, after hiking up their already overpriced tickets. This from over estimating their venue's popularity and finding there were less idiots amongst their patrons than they bargained for.

And, in another embarrassing episode for this over rated, greedy and arrogant venue, former frontman Richard Thomas was forced to step down from his position after it was discovered that he was using finances from the course for his own 'projects'.

And what of Ascot. In a climate where our festivals are being stretched, diluted, and partly ruined, the Berkshire course's Director of Racing Nick Smith firmly made a statement, as if fact, that the extra races have not diluted the quality, something they've been guilty of doing for years.

Take the sprinters for starters - there was a time when the Kings Stand Stakes was, along with Gold Cup, the only Group 1 race staged at the meeting, this at a time when the now out of control Pattern, was still protected.

Then, in an attempt to balance the sprint programme, the Pattern Committee downgraded the King's Stand and upgraded the old Vernons Sprint Cup which has had God only knows numerous titles since. They then gradually lost all sense of proportion - the King's Stand returned to it's former Group 1 status, the Cork and Orrey was moved to a supposedly one off Royal Saturday in Golden Jubilee year, and run as the Golden Jubilee Stakes with Group 1 status. They told us ay the time it was probably just going to be a one off but as many suspected, once the extra day was added to replace the old Ascot Heath Saturday, then there was going to be no turning back.

And if we thought that was one step too far in diluting quality, we now have another Group 1 sprint, the Commonwealth Cup, confined to three year olds. You could go through all the events with a fine tooth comb and come up with a multitude of present examples of how the present meeting would be enhanced in quality if it resembled the meeting from half a century back, and conversely how poorer the meeting would have been in the 1970's if connections had so many options to choose from.

One example of how less the anticipation is on the run up to the meeting can be appreciated by looking at Michael Stoute's wonderful Habitat filly Marwell. Anyone underestimating her in their memory should maybe consider that six years after Marwell's three year old season of 1981, Stoute trained the admirable Ajdal to win the July Cup, Nunthorpe, and the Haydock Sprint Cup. Ajdal had also won the Dewhurst, been beaten when a warm favourite for the 2,000 Guineas, then in a rare error of judgment by his great trainer, had run in the Derby. Still, he found his niche as a wonderful sprinter but Stoute is in no doubt whatsoever that Marwell was superior and without doubt the best sprinter he has had through his hands.

Marwell was a speedy two year old during 1980 and went into the winter as a leading fancy for the 1,000 Guineas, the general consensus being that if she stays she wins. After lasting out over seven furlongs on her reappearance to win the Fred Darling, her stamina alas proved her undoing at Newmarket, only managing fourth spot behind Fairy Footsteps.

Then, returned to sprinting, she took the Gus Demmy at Haydock before lining up for the King's Stand, something that would not happen now as the Commonwealth Cup would provide an easier Group 1 option, though if the King's Stand was the choice, that too is not the mountain to climb it once was as the older horses have the option of running in the Golden Jubilee - thus you have a King's Stand in which the three year olds find it easier to avoid for the Commonwealth, and in which some of the older horses can pick and choose between that and the Golden Jubilee, or even run in both.

There was a buzz leading up to Marwell 's King Stand, her main rival was the previous year's Nunthorpe winner Sharpo. He disappointed and this was the race were Stoute's filly truly arrived on the all aged sprinting scene, stamping herself as a performer of the highest class and laying down her claim to be the champion of that division in a golden era for sprinters. It's history now that she went on to defeat the best sprinter of the previous year, Moorestyle, in the July Cup, before both were beaten by a back to his best Sharpo at York, then finally, in the Prix de l' Abbaye, Marwell reversed the form with her York conqueror and ended the season with Timeform's highest rating for the year in the sprinting division.

Now, the spin put on things is that the three year olds are given the option of the Commonwealth Cup and they can always come back the following year for one of the other sprint races. Admittedly, some sprinters have a preference for six furlongs over five and vice versa but most of the genuine top class animals can cut the mustard over both. 

Moreover there was an unmistakable buzz in the air when, as early as June, the established older sprinters crossed paths with rivals who are potentially the best three year old speedsters as the more they avoid each other the less likely they may ever meet while at their optimums. 

And this is just the sprinting division - no need to go into other areas to demonstrate how poorer the somewhat multiple choice fixture now is. They can say what they like, they are talking garbage.

image from Clipart library

This is the title track of an album released during Mill Reef and Brigadier Gerard's classic year. In an episode of The Lovers, Paula Wilcox picks up the album in a record shop, while in one of the early episodes of Van Der Valk, this track can be heard playing in some dodgy Amsterdam bar. There was no watering down the quality in the racing world though, in fact 1971 was the very first year of the now, not fit for purpose, 'Pattern',

SIMMERING TENSIONS BENEATH THE SURFACE

 

Anyone considering themselves a racing fan would have been sitting up and paying attention to Jim Bolger's allegations that a serious horse doping problem exists within Irish racing, for one cannot do otherwise but believe that the veteran handler has a feed of information from what he knows to be reliable sources that he has trust in.

Bolger does not come across as a character who would be taken in by exaggerated gossip, neither does he strike you as somebody who would come out unto the open and make accusations unless being a hundred per cent convinced that they were fully truthful.

It was actually quite eerie in one podcast when the trainer was asked would any of the drug cheats be represented at Royal Ascot, and he responded with ," I haven't looked at the fields yet so I can't tell you that", a comment that would have had many mentally drawing up their own short list of suspects.

When the Kilkenny handler made similar noises last year and made a call for equine hair testing to act as a deterrent to, as well as catching cheats, the fact that he made reference to studs, pre training yards and pinhookers, made one believe that the problem may lie in the area of sales preparation - we all had heard of the stories back in the 1980's when some fantastic looking specimens bought at the USA yearling sales would, after being bought, begin to mysteriously lose condition.

However, judging by the comments Bolger made last week no one can doubt that he was insunuating that the problem is also very much connected to horses in training, and during their preparations for contests.

We know the names of trainers whose charges have tested positive for illegal substances, then have offered the 'usual' excuses - such as the dosage was given to the wrong horse, or found its way into the feed, cross contamination, acting on irresponsible veterinary advice and all that, and in each case the punishment handed out could be construed as being lenient.

Particularly when compared to the eight year ban handed to Mahmood Al Zarooni by the UK authorities  after having eleven out of forty five animals tested on site at his yard, return positive results for anabolic steroids. In handing the ban, a statement was issued to the effect that the evidence pointed to him acting alone -  something many would firmly have come to their own conclusion about.

In the months following Al Zarooni's ban, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate made a seizure at Stansted  Airport, from a Dubai Air Wings jet, which comprised of large quantities of drugs that could be used as illegal performance enhancers on racehorses. The BHA made a statement saying that they did not believe the discovery had any connection to racing or were intended for use on thoroughbreds.

The Godolphin operation is now balanced massively in racing from their own breeding operation, supported by some yearling sales purchases, when in years gone by it had been a mix of this with ready made in racing purchases from other yards, some being spectacularly successful when switched to Saeed Bin Suroor. 

The French 2,000 Guineas winner Daylami just did not appeal as one who would end up as a middle distance colt out of the top drawer, yet he turned into one the most successful performers of the 1990's, his King George success being one of the most memorable moments of the decade. When Swain had been with Andre Fabre, he looked a stayer, a bit of a plodder in fact, when finishing fourth in the Arc, appealing as one who was ideal for the Cup races. Winning two King George's was not what anyone would have envisaged.

Then another ex Andre Fabre animal, Doyen, who had also finished a one paced fourth in the Arc. Under Suroor he would route his opponents in the Hardwicke before following up with another impressive success in the King George. And Fantastic Light, from Stoute to Suroor, progressing into a genuine top class colt as shown in those two memorable battles with Galileo, even coming out on top in the second one at Leopardstown.

There were many others too. Then, for some reason, the successes stopped coming with the same regularity and the modus operandi was not working anymore. And now with a breeding operation in better shape than they've ever had it, led by their flagship sire Dubawi, the old methods that served them well before they lost the midas touch with, are now not needed.

Returning to the alleged problem in Ireland. While we can fairly accurately guess who a few of the trainers are on account of them already having faced disciplinary action, there are most certainly many more. The subject is covered in fine detail in the William Jones book, The Black Horse Is Dying, which also reveals that when investigators from the Irish Agricultural Department  raided the home of one of their former veterinary inspectors, John Hughes, they found large quantities of illegal drugs that have been  known to be effective performance boosters when administered to racehorses.

They also found a client list of twenty trainers. The names of these trainers have never been released and it amounts to a bit of speculating and piecing together jigsaws, though at the end of the day we have no idea what they would have purchased and why, thus can't suddenly assume that all had subscriptions for magic carrots. 

Still, the mystery stirs up the imagination and we have to accept that there exists in the loop bodies of people who will know what is going on and who has, or is doing what. No doubt, Bolger is in the loop and is hoping alleged misdeeds will eventually come out in the wash - in the meantime those with an enthusiastic interest in the sport will be left trying to join the dots together.

In the music world the 1980's fell way below the 1970's, with each individual year of the 1970's offering more than the whole of the following decade which was full of nausua inducing schmaltzy outfits - though not this talented individual who was even better than he had been during the previous decade. For horse racing, the 1980's was the last decade before things went downhill. This single was released during Royal Ascot week in 1982.

THE MOST ENLIGHTENING HALF HOURS RACING DISCUSSION OF THE YEAR

When posters on the racing forums and Twitter posted links and encouraged others to listen to Mark Johnston appearing as the main guest on last week's Luck on Sunday, the temptation was to not even give it a brief viewing, particularly as the title to the link indicated it was going to be a predictable father gives son more responsibility, with the odd ticking off if he gets too big for his boots, and so forth.

But for those of us who clicked on the link believing they'd give the blah blah blah thirty seconds then do away with it had their cynically whipped egg left on their faces for this was one of the best interviews of its kind for a long, long time, with some unashamedly to the core opinion on the big trainer versus little trainer arguments.

There was no Charlie love in at all - just an acknowledgement that that his workload involves, amongst other things, time consuming office roles and that their yearling sales modus operandi continues as before with only animals out of black type performing dams considered, and that no yearlings are viewed that don't fit the catalogue criteria.

Johnston had stated similar before and has confessed to being irate when people interpret this approach as a partial confession that he lacks an eye for a yearling. It's certainly food for thought though and baffling in the sense that the great majority of onlookers would pay more interest to an animal sired by a middling stallion but one who has sold for four times the price than the covering fee, as opposed to a horse sired by a stallion covering for over a hundred grand, out of a Group 2 winning mare who fetches thirty grand in the ring as a yearling.

The general consensus would be that the former has impressed those with an 'eye' in that he posseses the conformation to make a proper racehorse, while the latter has severe confirmation faults that cast doubt on the type of animal he will make up into.

Opening up a copy of Horses In Training and selecting one of many examples with this in mind, one will note that Johnston has a juvenile in training named Super Stars, conceived when his sire Sea The Stars was covering for a fee of 135,000 Euro, and out of a mare who was fourth in a Listed race. Despite these credentials Super Stars fetched only just over 32,000 in the ring as a yearling. Logic shouts that this animal can't have been the most pleasing looker when he went through the ring, so it will be fascinating to see what sort of animal he makes up into. 

Johnston later repeated what many have felt is an issue that makes the sport poorer - too much racing, and not just at the basement level. We know that the Pattern system spiraled out of control many years back which no doubt he was referring to by saying at the top end of the sport there are three races for one horse instead of one race for three horses. 

The trainer also criticised the approach of the sport looking after the interests of the lowest common demoninator, being of the opinion that there are too many operators. This observation no doubt would have made plenty of small handlers cringe, particularly some of those who supported the action against the Arena Leisure courses in demand for more prize money - indeed if Johnston's view is shared by some of the other successful operators, you wonder whether some of them who took part 'used' the smaller handlers for their own agendas.

And not unconnected, it was riveting to hear the Kingsley House boss adamently maintain that as horses are herd animals they benefit from being trained in large strings and did not subscribe to the view of those who manage small yards, particularly those situated away from the major training centres, that horses benefit from being treated separately as individuals with individually tailored routines.

Not all would agree - the late Glamorgan based trainer Bryn Palling would purchase cast offs from the bigger yards and go about 'sweetening' them up. He purchased regularly from Henry Cecil's yard at the Horses In Training Sales and did have some success though as is common knowledge Cecil worked his horse hard, wringing every pound of ability out of them, thus nurturing some improvement from his former inmates must have been like squeezing blood from a stone. I am also certain that Ian Williams would not be anywhere near agreeing with the Scotsman.

In contrast it's well documented how well numerous animals who have been in training with Sir Mark Prescott do in the hurdling sphere when purchased at the Horses In Training Sales, many of them clearly not bottomed and with mileage left that would not be apparent by simply matching number of appearances with other sales graduates.

This however is partly be design as Prescott likes the big scope types that will catch the eye of the jumping trainers, at the same time giving his owners a sell on value - still, it's testament to his training skills that he typically progresses an animal to his ceiling rating in handicaps, whIle at the same time leaving a healthy, happy horse able to go on and successfully build a career over hurdles - the amazing Inglis Drever (pictured) being a classic example.

Back to the Mark Johnston interview that was a hosts dream - one of his parting shots was the incredible statement that punters don't contribute much to the sport. It was regrettable that this happened during the later stages of the interview as we could have expected Luck to broach open the subject rather than just doubting the validity of those words.

No doubt he would have pointed out that it's not only the substantial amount of punters money harvested through the Levy, but also the media rights payments in the sense that these would not exist if punters did not bet as like it or not racing exists because of betting, not vice versa, and there would be no demand for pictures if bets could not be made. Hopefully, this is something that will be heading the discussion when Johnston makes his next guest appearance on the show.

image taken by author

From the best album of one of the most popular Glam Pop acts at the height of that brand of music's time - racing may have not been without problems at the time but it was less crammed and in a better place than it is now.