Ruby Walsh: Racing owes ground staff a big debt of gratitude

As I watched Punchestown stage its 17th meeting since September last Sunday, I had to admire the effort they are making to keep going in such hard times

Sat, 20 Feb, 2021 - 07:00

Ruby Walsh

The figures the GAA released during the week on the losses they incurred during their first Covid-ravaged season didn’t make for pretty reading but, like any report, the devil was in the detail and the biggest reasons for the massive swing in the GAA’s finances are ones that are going to apply to some sectors in horse racing too.

Next to zero gate receipts for the entire inter-county GAA season meant Pairc an Chrocaigh CTR, the company responsible for the management and operation of Croke Park, slipped into the red for the first time since the early years after the stadium was redeveloped, incurring losses of €10.4m.

No crowds, no hospitality, very little income, yet still the basic costs of maintenance, staff and opening for games which were generating a fraction of the revenue.

The above will sound pretty familiar to a lot of our racecourse management teams, and the financial hit will be felt more by those who host our bigger festivals. As I watched Punchestown stage its 17th meeting since September last Sunday, I had to admire the effort they are making to keep going in such hard times.

Seventeen meetings run by now is an increase of seven for Punchestown in what is termed their season - September to June - the extra seven being the meetings they lost last spring-summer. But, to set out and plan your track for all the extra meetings in such a condensed time, to ensure a good racing surface as the rain comes tumbling down, is an effort not many of us will have noticed.

I know they, like all Irish racecourses, have a solid media rights deal but all other income is off the table. Whilst Fairyhouse will be next up to host a festival, the sense of achievement for all racecourse staff when a successful festival passes is gone. But they have not waned in their efforts to hold each race day.

Thurles still had a fresh line of track last Monday for its rescheduled meeting lost the previous Thursday, and Navan will have moved God knows how much rail to find the best surface for tomorrow’s meeting to give the horses the best ground they can.

Turf - not the stuff from the bog, but the term used for grass racetracks - does not mind itself. Look out at your soaking garden and imagine how it would look if 10 kids played football on it, let alone 100 racehorses galloped straight across it, and then think of the effort required to repair it and you garner some idea of the costs incurred by our racecourses just to keep going.

Maybe they are the lucky ones who can continue to race, but they have also taken a hit for doing so, and every racing person owes them something for trying when the easiest and more financially secure thing to do would have been to lock the gate.

The recent deluge has claimed its third Irish fixture this week, but Ascot, Haydock and Wincanton provide some good-class action across the water.

There are plenty of big names on show and at 2.05pm last season’s Stayers Hurdle hero Lisnagar Oscar reappears at Haydock having undergone wind surgery. It will need to have worked as his two starts this season have ended quite tamely, but his trainer, Rebecca Curtis, has been making positive noises.

So, too, has Harry Cobden about Cyrname, who runs in the Betfair Chase at Ascot, at 3:35, and he believes reverting to more forceful and brave tactics will help Cyrname regain a winning thread.

Being held onto at Wetherby in October didn’t stop him and I am not sure tactics beat him in the King George. But, at Ascot this horse has always looked at his best.

Goshen is the final big name on a retrieval mission at 3.18pm in Wincanton, and again tactics are going to play a part. He pulled way too hard when last seen in December, so expect Jamie Moore to just let him rock. Of those three horses, Cyrname is the only one I could fancy today.

Newbury and Navan take centre stage tomorrow. Well, actually, Tiger Roll will when he runs in the Boyne Hurdle at 2.47, and how he performs will give us a guide as to where he may go next. The ground wont suit, but winning won’t necessarily be key to his future, it will be more his attitude to the task at hand.

Lostintranslation and Champ roll their Gold Cup dice in two different races at Newbury. The former has had a second wind op since he pulled up in the King George.

Colin Tizzard’s horses have hit some form in recent weeks and the vibes are good, but Nicky Henderson has chosen a rarely trodden path for Gold Cup hopefuls by dropping Champ down to two miles for his seasonal reappearance and Cheltenham prep.

A brave but cunning plan as jumping at speed will teach him plenty and the exertions of a two-mile race will take less recovering from. He will be up against it all the same but were those six high-profile names to spark this weekend, it would make March and April even brighter.

Unsatisfactory conclusion to Viking Hoard affair

Eventually, the result of Charles Byrnes’ appeal against sanctions he received from the IHRB for “serious negligence” were released on Thursday. The appeals body upheld the decision against Charles and so he must pay the €1,000 fine and serve a six-month ban on his trainer’s licence from March 4, which the original hearing gave him relating to his part, or failings, in the whole Viking Hoard affair.

The case now appears to be closed, but we don’t know - or will ever know - who doped Viking Hoard. That ghost disappeared on the day, and it appears whoever laid the bets on Viking Hoard through Betfair or whatever limited company was used on Betfair has walked away too. Amazing how a paper trail following an act that is basically fraud has led to only one person not minding a horse.

It is hard to imagine how those who laid these bets have not been sanctioned or warned off from participating in horse racing, and this mysterious individual “in a distant part of the world,” known to be associated with the account in question and who was said to be associated with match fixing in connection to other sports, ghosts away, unnamed and free.

But surely it is not too much to hope that Betfair have rid themselves of this individual’s business and have forewarned their competitors at other exchange companies of the dangers this individual presents. “Knowing your customer” is part of the gambling guidelines for betting organisations.

Unfortunately, time has moved too quickly for Davy Russell in his bid to be fit for the Cheltenham Festival. A massive blow for Davy, personally, but a big blow for Gordon Elliott too. When you think of teams in horse racing, you think of yards and the well-being of their horses, but the riders each yard use are vital too.

Gordon has Jack Kennedy but having somebody of Davy Russell’s ability on your team, with all his skill and experience, is a massive safety blanket to have. Davy’s absence will present opportunities for somebody else but, on the biggest stage, they are chances Gordon would prefer Davy was taking. Both Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott will be hoping Boris Johnson provides a path for the resumption of amateur sport next week so they can add Patrick Mullins and Jamie Codd to their riding teams.