Ruby Walsh: High Definition viewing is great but nothing beats being there on Irish Derby day

Shane Foley onboard Discoveries (far side) wins the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Maiden ahead of Ryan Moore on Tuesday at the Curragh last night. Picture: Morgan Treacy/Inpho

I most certainly did not think in March of 2020 that it would be the end of June in 2021 before a single member of the public would enter an Irish racecourse again as a spectator.

I doubt many people did, but as the realisation of what was going on began to set in and it became clear a vaccine was the only route back to normality, I feared the end date could be in 2023. Science or medical science, to be exact, is not my strong suit, but common sense or rumour suggested, the creation of one could take years.

It didn’t, but for different reasons, the rollout has been slower than many people would have wanted with the path chosen for its distribution questioned on every front.

Still, I can’t help but feel that if we all look back to the start of this pandemic and think of the gloom and fear gripping the world that to be where we are now is a result. Too many people paid too high a price, of that there is little doubt, but to be at a point where sport is being used as a trial event for spectators is huge progress in my eyes.

I fully appreciate how lucky I have been in the last 12 months since horse racing restarted after the first lockdown.

My role on TV has allowed me to attend many meetings but in particular all of the good ones, so you might say, what would you know about it? And you’re right. I haven’t been excluded or stuck at home. My working life continued, as usual, only there was nothing normal about being at a racecourse.

Empty stands are as soulless in reality as tv makes them feel, so after watching and almost feeling the atmosphere in Copenhagen for Denmark’s emotional Euro 2020 win over Russia last Monday night, the thought of 1,000 spectators at the Curragh today has me excited.

The restrictions will infuriate some of those who attend today, but they should take a deep breath and be happy they have a ticket because they are one of the lucky few who can say they were at the Irish Derby in 2021.

What will win the Derby is the question those 1,000 people will all be asking and High Definition will be the choice of many. He had been winter favourite for the Epsom equivalent but, when he came short in the Dante, Ballydoyle reshuffled the pack and Bolshoi Ballet was sent to the Derby on his own.

But, in High Definition’s defence, he had missed Lingfield’s derby trial five days before the Dante at York, so expecting improvement from this son of Galileo this afternoon is feasible.

Yet it will be required to beat the Epsom second Mojo Star, third Hurricane Lane, and fourth Mac Swiney.

It will be a treat for those who are there to witness such an open affair with the next Ballydoyle horse in the betting being only sixth choice behind their favourite.

Martin Meade’s Lone Eagle is the fifth single-digit horse in the betting representing five different yards so, for the first time since Jack Hobbs in 2015, this race could be destined for export. That would mean that for the first time since Harzand in 2016, the race would not be won by a member of the O’Brien family.

Aidan has only won the Irish Derby 14 times since 1997 but I doubt the car ride back to Balllydoyle will be an enjoyable one if he doesn’t make it 15 because Joseph doesn’t have a runner and Donnacha’s Fernando Vichi looks to have a lot to find. Aidan gambled at Epsom and only ran one; he has back up here, but the choice is High Definition and the odds are in his favour.

Two incidents involving the outcome of stewards’ enquiries caught my eye in the last week.

First, having breached the whip rules for the sixth time in the previous nine months at Tipperary at the start of this month, Seamie Heffernan was handed an eight-race meeting ban to go with a six-meeting ban he received at Gowran Park earlier this month. But it was Seamie’s willingness to further address this issue at the Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE), where he heard already been referred to after his Gowran Park ban, that caught my eye.

Seamie doesn’t need lessons in using his whip, but rather an old dog needs to learn a new trick that curbs his determination to win. I struggled with it when the UK introduced similar rules a few years ago.

Counting is not an issue many would associate with Seamie, but when you spend your life learning to win, stalling those instincts to fight when you reach a level you feel is not your partner’s limit reshapes someone’s mentality.

Whether the rules state it or not, I am not a fan of curbing that instinct in anybody.

The other story that caught my eye was Dragon Symbol’s connections’ decision to appeal against the decision to demote him from first place in the Commonwealth Cup.

I understand the gravity of the situation for this future stallion. Still, the fact his rider Oisin Murphy has not appealed against his four-day careless riding ban clearly weakens their case.

He has never denied he caused the interference. Still, by accepting the punishment, he admits he deserved the ban, so how do connections expect a stewards panel to reverse a decision where one of the witnesses is accepting he caused a foul?

A four-day ban equates to a red card in most other sports. Dragon Symbol denied Campanelle the chance to take a shot when she had a clear goal-scoring opportunity. Maybe Dragon Symbol would have saved the attempt, who knows, but what we are sure about is Campanelle was never allowed to take it.