Ruby Walsh: You can’t hide your mistakes or bluff your decisions when a HD camera is zoomed in

A TV camera man catching the action on the track at Tipperary earlier this year. Picture: Healy Racing

Technology. It started my love affair with what it I did for most for of my life, frightened me at times during that period and now helps me to explain what I see or know is happening but don’t have the words to explain.

The camera on a car speeding alongside the inside road at Ascot, Chepstow, Sandown, and Newbury on a Saturday as I watched the BBC was what enthralled me as a kid: The closeness to the speed; the adrenalin of good jumpers; the impact of falls all right there in front of you; marvelling at the skill of Richard Dunwoody or watching him bounce back to his feet after a thumping fall.

And last Sunday the camerawork at Fairyhouse helped each and every one of us feel as close to the action as we possibly could. It wasn’t just the use of the side-on car at Fairyhouse but the added bonus of a drone camera that gave us angles and shots of quality I have never before seen in Ireland.

They frightened me when I was riding because you can’t hide your mistakes from an overhead camera or bluff your technical decisions when a HD camera is zoomed in. Your decisions and judgement of distances are there for all to see. Cameras from the grandstand or other fixed positions never gave people the evidence to analysis your decisions the way it can be done now. Side-on, head-on and rear-view angles leave room for debate, but that blasted drone shows it all.

The side-on gave us a view of Envoi Allen’s speed and of the injection of pace Rachel Blackmore, on Honeysuckle, put into the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle off the home bend. They were movements everybody could see and understand without being told they happened, and they showed the might and grace of a thoroughbred in full flow.

Racing in Ireland moved itself forward last weekend because gambling alone won’t keep people interested in the sport. Don’t get me wrong, it is a massive help, but people have to marvel and talk about what they see.

We have the owners to invest, the trainers to produce and the horse and jockeys to entertain but now we have the technology to make it all understandable. The evidence is there for everyone to debate, and debate creates interest.

The superstars didn’t let racing down last weekend either. Monkfish, Epatante, Ballyadam, Envoi Allen, and Honeysuckle all delivered.

Throw in a new star in Zanahiyr and it all worked well.

But last week is old news, so now it is the turn of the potential Gold Cup, Ryanair, and Champion Chasers. The Tingle Creek today at Sandown is one of National Hunt racing’s special races in that it can entertain or dazzle you.

There have been superstar winners and titanic scraps but today has lost much of its lustre due to the 11th hour absence of Altior.

As a result, Nicky Henderson’s main focus today will be Aintree where the horse who many feel was inconvenienced most in last season’s slowly run Gold Cup, Santini, makes his seasonal reappearance in the Many Clouds Chase.

He faces two heroes from the 2019 Festival in Native River and Frodon and, whilst he is a notoriously hard horse to get fit, for my money he needs to have improved a little over the summer if he is going to beat Al Boum Photo in March, and therefore needs to take care of his rivals today.

The John Durkan and Hilly Way cards at Punchestown and Cork were always a headache for me when I was riding, and tomorrow is no different for Paul Townend. He has decided to sidestep the day’s feature race at Punchestown and travel to his native Cork to ride Chacun Pour Soi in the Hilly Way Chase instead of Min in the John Durkan.

Patrick Mullins takes over on Min, who faces a clatter of last season’s best novices in the day’s only Grade One race.

Min is bidding for a hat-trick in the contest but Samcro, Battleoverdoyen, Chris’s Dream, Le Richebourg, Melon and Allaho are all new rivals for him to contend with.

Two and a half miles looks an ideal distance for them all but my head tells me Min’s experience and speed might be too much for these to cope with just yet and I would be siding with him.

There is a train of thought with some of those involved at Closutton that Chacun Pour Soi could be the most gifted horse in the yard. The general public have probably only ever seen a glimpse of that but his thumping of Min at the Dublin Racing Festival last February is rock-solid form.

His fragility has probably held him back even if those hold-ups were only minor, but it still casts a doubt into many people’s minds about his durability. I hope he gets a clean run at the season, starting tomorrow at Cork, and gets to deliver what we believe he is capable of.

There are some pretty decent support acts to all the weekend’s features and the likes of Allmankind and Eldorado Allen should not be overlooked at Sandown in the Henry VIII novice chase today.

For added excitement you have the Becher and Grand Sefton chases at Aintree and a cracking card at Navan this afternoon where the eComm Merchants Handicap Hurdle is the feature. I could pick eight horses here and be nowhere near finding the winner but Lady Breffni would be my each-way choice.

Andy Dufresne looks to be the star name on show at Navan and he will look to build on a decent start to his chasing career by winning the Grade 3 Klairon Davis Novice Chase, while The Big Getaway will hopefully keep up Willie Mullins’ good run in the beginners’ chase division.

It’s yet another thrilling weekend of action and I for one can’t wait to sit in front of the TV to enjoy it all.