Ruby Walsh: Princess Zoe’s Paris win was really magnificent stuff to watch
Princess Zoe and Joey Sheridan winning the Qatar Prix du Cadran (Group 1) from Alkuin for owner Paddy Kehoe and trainer Tony Mullins. Photo Healy Racing.
Last weekend promised so much but, like a lot of things in life, the more you expect of something the less it tends to deliver.
And before most of you even read this column last Saturday, a lot of it was irrelevant.
The saga surrounding all the O’Brien horses due to run in Paris last weekend and, in fact, anywhere, kicked off last Friday evening when the news broke via a Gain Horse Feed statement asking all users of their equine nutrition horse feeds to stop using them because of the potential presence of a contaminant in some batches of their equine feed range.
Somewhere and somehow it appears Zilpaterol, a synthetic beta-agonist approved for use as a performance enhancer in some beef production systems outside the EU, had made its way into some Gain Horse Feed products and was detected by France Galop on some routine winners samples it had taken.
It is a saga that will drag on for a good while yet and will hopefully ask the questions of the labs testing the Irish and English horses as to why only the French could find it.
But the immediate effect was the withdrawal of all the O’Brien horses from Paris last weekend, which robbed the Arc of plenty of its intrigue.
But the show must go on and it did. Instead of Enable becoming the star of the show on Sunday, for me, Princess Zoe became the heroine on Saturday. Her last-gasp victory in the Group 1 Qatar Prix du Cadran was most definitely the highlight and the first and only time I have heard a cheer on an Irish racecourse since racing resumed in June.
I watched it in Gowran Park with the 40 or so other people in attendance, scattered around the deserted betting ring, watching two TVs but united in willing Joey Sheridan and Princess Zoe to run down the pacesetting Alkuin.
It looked likely 200 metres down, then it swung to maybe, then unlikely, then possible, then to she’s getting there. The emotions more associated with a jump race being played out at Longchamp, but the crowd cheered for her trainer, the ever popular and huge character that is Tony Mullins.
He had a bought a lowly-rated Flat filly in Germany and brought her all the way to Group 1 glory. Most of those stood around me were his fellow trainers and you could almost sense the pride in each of them for Tony but also for the reason they do the job they do: That someday they could do the very same.
I admire the resolution of every small trainer, but I also admire talent and I love watching jockeys do special things and that’s exactly what Joey Sheridan did. At 19 years of age and having his first ride at Longchamp, he did what anybody with a morsel of brain power would do: He slotted in behind the favourite, Call The Wind, ridden by Oliver Peslier, and used him as his target.
A good plan, but Alkuin, under Eddy Hardouin, quickly became the fly in the ointment when he jumped out of the stalls and opened up a substantial lead over the field. Joey didn’t bat an eyelid and stayed just behind Frankie Dettori, on Barbados, and following Oliver.
But Alkuin was not stopping and when they entered the false straight at Longchamp with three and a half furlongs to go, Barbados was stuffed, and Call The Wind was starting to struggle too.
Now Joey was in a spot of bother: He had 15 lengths to make up and only barely enough ground left to do it.
Panic is most people’s first reaction to any sticky situation, but Joey showed confidence and judgement that belies his age and experience. He gradually wound up Princess Zoe and once in the home straight he set about chasing down Alkuin.
Three quick flicks behind the saddle between the 500 and 400-metre markers to get her into top gear, three more in the next 200 metres to encourage her to maintain her effort and get her close enough to the leader to make Princess Zoe believe she too could catch Alkuin, and then one flick at each of the 150m, 100m, and 50m markers to encourage and push the gallant grey mare to sustain her pace and get herself in front 20 metres from the line. Magnificent stuff to watch.
The front-running Alkuin was on out its feet. Eddy Hardouin had opted to keep her as balanced as he could down the straight, only resorting to his whip inside the 300m marker when the game was up. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t get the same response Joey did and his horse continued to slow as Princess Zoe maintained her speed.
Both horses gave everything that was asked of them, which is all I ever want to see any athlete give. We can explain the effort required to succeed at the top to humans in a verbal way which we will never be able to achieve with horses.
Saturday’s race was D-day in Princess Zoe’s career, the day you hear managers and coaches talk about to athletes and players, but a day trainers can’t explain to horses.
“Give everything you’ve got”; “dig as deep as you as you can”; “leave nothing in the locker,” and “empty yourself on that pitch” are all phrases we hear bandied about in sport in the effort to build athletes and players up, to put every ounce of energy into a race or game.
There are no verbal phrases for horses so we use physical means to extract the response in a horse that can be simply given by a human through their understanding of the task at hand.
But the feeling of joy that humans get when they win is also one you can sense from a horse. They too know when they have done brilliantly just as much as when they have underperformed.
A horse’s character is every bit as big a part of them as the personality of a human. Joey Sheridan and Princes Zoe were united in victory last Saturday, him asking and encouraging her and she answering and giving him all she had. Sport at its purest and best.
But Joey’s use of his whip landed him in hot water because of a flaw in the rules. The use of the whip should never have had a number put on it because there are times when one is too many.
Frankie Dettori never used his on Barbados. There was no point as his horse ran out of steam long before Frankie even go the chance to.
Oliver Peslier only used his three times before realising Call The Wind had no more to offer, and Eddy Hardouin used his five times — one too many in my eyes but allowed by the rules as Alkuin continued to slow when Eddy asked and, in human terms, had blown up.
Princess Zoe did respond to Joey, though, and her response was just to maintain her effort. She “emptied herself” on the track and is a heroine for it. That sight is going in racing, there will still be winners, but it will be the flashy ones in the future that succeed, not the toughest.
THE jumps really start to cross over the Flat from this weekend on as the National Hunt season heats up and the weather cools down. Queens Brook, Fairyhouse, 3.15 today, and Fiddlerontheroof at Chepstow (3.22) emerge from their summer holidays and embark on their paths through a season of trials and trepidations towards the spring festivals.
The JT McNamara Munster National, tomorrow at Limerick, is the obvious jumping highlight but, coming just 18 days after the Kerry one, I am not sure it’s in the right place anymore, and may need to be pushed back by a week if Listowel is going to stay at the end of September.
Walk Away looks to be well in on his handicap debut and Internal Transfer, who fell early at Listowel, is also of interest.
My Sister Sarah, at 2.30, should ensure Willie Mullins doesn’t depart the Limerick venue without a winner, but Mt Leinster, 4.10 at the Curragh tomorrow, will take even more beating.
The Paddy Power Irish Cesarewitch at 3.40 is a hotly contested affair and Willie has two runners: Kaatskill Nap and Royal Illusion. But his nephew Emmet’s Cape Gentleman could be the one to follow.
Don’t forget to keep an eye out for Thunder Moon in the Dewhurst at Newmarket today, and Great White Shark in their Cesarewitch too.
