Saturday, July 17, 2010
WHEN you watch a lot of racing there aren’t many occasions when the performance of a horse makes you sit up and take particular notice.
Essentially, when attempting to source winners, one tends to view everything as coldly as possible and to ignore hype and a tendency to go with what can often develop into popular opinion.
There are times, however, when you feel that something may well be worth more than a second glance and that’s how this observer felt after Gordon Elliott’s Final Day won at Downpatrick on Tuesday.
Final Day began life by winning two ordinary bumpers in Scotland, at Perth and Mussleburgh, with a large gap between the runs.
Neither effort indicated there was any great need to take more than a passing interest in him. He has, however, been hugely progressive since being launched over flights.
Final Day began by finishing second at Tipperary, then won in canter at Down Royal and was far from disgraced when runner-up behind the vastly more experienced The Fonze at Limerick.
But it was Downpatrick four days ago that impressed the most and just have a feeling this is a very smart horse.
All the evidence thus far is that the six-year-old needs top of the ground to be most effective and we certainly won’t be with him in any other conditions, at least not until Final Day tells us otherwise.
I know it might sound ridiculous to be getting a little carried away on the basis of a lowly contest up north, but think we can allow ourselves such a luxury in a summer context.
What I especially liked about him at Downpatrick was the way he behaved after the last hurdle.
He met it just a bit wrong, but absolutely bounded away from the obstacle, as if their was a huge amount in the tank.
He goes to Galway now for a novice hurdle and that will tell us whether we’re dreaming or not.
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WHEN Aidan O’Brien saddled the first three in the Irish Derby - Cape Blanco, Midas Touch and Jan Vermeer - I came in for a bit of stick from a punter a couple of days later at Limerick.
His argument was that I had been inclined to downplay the achievement, on the basis that this was a moderate Derby.
He was entitled to his opinion, expressed it with a touch of style and then carried on his merry way.
In any case thought, in the immediate aftermath, the Irish Derby was an ordinary renewal and the performance of Jan Vermeer at Longchamp on Wednesday night seemed to confirm such a view.
Jan Vermeer was only beaten two lengths at the Curragh, but was a poor third in a Group 1 at Longchamp. One’s case rests.
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THE stewards have come in for some ferocious criticism in England for their undoubted eagerness to hand out suspensions to jockeys for the most minor of offences.
Indeed, the much respected Mick Channon was moved to write a letter to the Racing Post, in which he tore into the British Horseracing Authority.
He mentioned Richard Hughes, who took a week off riding so as not to risk being suspended for Glorious Goodwood.
Said Channon: "This situation seems to me to be a typical example of the confrontational way racing is governed by the BHA and its officials."
There is plenty wrong with Irish racing and we are not adverse to having the odd go at the stewards.
That said, though, you would have to say the stewards here seem to look at matters in a far more intelligent manner and realise that horses simply cannot be ridden in lanes, the way athletes have to behave in races over shorter distances.
Indeed, the entire system in this country seems to operate in a far more satisfactory way.
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THE Darley Irish Oaks is the feature at the Curragh tomorrow, but do they really have to finish the programme with four handicaps? These type of contests are a pain in the proverbial, offering little hope of finding the winner and race-planners clearly do not understand the thought process of the regular punter, who keeps the show on the road day after day.
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