Is this any way to run the racing business?
The attendances over the Christmas, at Leopardstown, Limerick and Down Royal, were terrific. Add in thousands more watching on television, on both RTÉ and At The Races, and surely that interest should be built on.
But what do we do? We tell the hardcore brigade, who are willing to go, or watch, racing every day of the week, and those casuals who might have been captured over the Christmas period, to throttle back and relax, nothing to see here.
In his column in the Irish Examiner last Saturday, Ruby Walsh asked the question: “how can January be so quiet?’’ He went on to make a number of points that were perfectly reasonable. He questioned, for instance, why last Monday week, a public holiday, we had no Irish racing. And he also wondered why in 14 days through January there was National Hunt racing on only four of those.
The absence of racing on the bank holiday surely has to be regarded as a complete own goal. There was no excuse for failing to offer the public an option on a day when, as Walsh pointed out, “the kids were off school and people off work.’’
You have to say what qualifies as a National Hunt programme through the months of January and February is bordering on the ridiculous.
We know there was loads of racing over the Christmas period, but that is simply as it should be. Christmas should be a separate issue, with January and February taken on its own merits.
Right now, we are bang in the middle of the National Hunt campaign, but punters, trainers and jockeys are being told to take repeated extended breaks over a period of two months. How does that make sense? Why does the Premiership, and soccer in general, fly in England through the winter and the GAA in Ireland over the summer?
Unless the weather intervenes, it is non-stop when it comes to soccer and the wide variety of choices offered to patrons is astonishing.
The GAA thrives through the summer for a number of reasons, obviously, but one of the main ones has to be that there is literally no let-up in the action.
Fans are entertained Sunday after Sunday, with major games tumbling down on top of each other. Those who enjoy their soccer, and hurling and football, clearly love that.
But the people responsible for the National Hunt fixture list seem to take the exact opposite view.
We know the number of courses that can race in the winter in Ireland is limited and the surfaces have to be given time to recover. That, however, has long been the case and an industry which is prepared to spend millions on the Curragh for one day of the year should have moved by now to solve that problem.
Anyway, here are the facts for January and February. January has 31 days and no National Hunt racing in Ireland was scheduled for 18 of them. January will house just 14 National Hunt meetings.
There will be 13 National Hunt meetings in February, with 15 of the 28 days blank. What it adds up to is that for 33 days, out of 59, over January and February, no National Hunt racing will have taken place in this country.
Maybe, I’m missing something, but just don’t get it. How can the National Hunt people tolerate having no racing in Ireland this week from Naas last Sunday to Punchestown today?
What makes it more disappointing is just how good the season has been so far. Months ago, we wrote that there were two ingredients necessary for success, namely favourable weather and competitive racing.
The weather has been quite extraordinary and, taking October 1 as the real start of the season, not one meeting has been lost. That is quite remarkable.
The racing has not been as competitive as we would like, but, at the same time, far more competitive than might have been anticipated had those to 60 Gigginstown-owned horses remained where they were originally.
In my experience, once Christmas is over, Cheltenham arrives like a rocket. To all those punters starved of action that contacted me over the last ten days or so enjoy the relatively little be on offer between now and then.
was, once again, blown away by Gordon Elliott’s Death Duty in last Sunday’s Grade 1 novice hurdle at Naas.
Yes, the smashing mare, Augusta Kate, was challenging strongly when falling at the final flight, but I have little doubt Death Duty would have beaten her anyway.
It seems Elliott has his heart set on the three-mile Albert Bartlett Hurdle as Death Duty’s Cheltenham target and we have to respect that.
Whatever race the six-year-old contests, we will want to be with him. He’s got speed, class, a great will to win and the manner in which he powered up the hill at Naas was deeply impressive.
Cork last Saturday the John Queally-trained Uncle Danny was a shock 33-1 winner of a beginners’ chase.
At one stage on the exchanges, however, he was available at 219-1.
So, for a tenner, you would comfortably clear over €2,000. Nearing the off the odds had reduced to 69-1, indicating that someone had a moment of inspiration!
