Ruby Walsh: Getting through the weekend will take planning
Not even the purest of die-hard racing fans could believe Europe’s richest race will upstage the rugby currently in play in France. Nevertheless, it will run alongside it and hope the rugby will garner its expected results so the Longchamp victor might gain some column inches on Monday.
Then again, if Rory, Shane and the Europeans keep it up in Italy, we know what the headlines will be anyway.
So, the action on the racecourse on the west side of the Bois de Boulogne will do well to get a look in, but it is only a part of a fantastic weekend of horse racing and another great one of sport.
Storm Agnes ensured Gowran Park and Tipperary would be suitable for some of the big winter names to start their seasons, and she was kind enough to drift north and avoid England’s east coast so Newmarket stayed dry enough for its Cambridgeshire meeting.
The scene is set for some tremendous action but to enjoy all of it will take planning and a detailed schedule.
The action will be back-to-back from 6.35am, and after a morning of golf - the foursomes will conclude before the racing kicks in at 12.23pm when Chris Hayes will go the start aboard Dermot Weld’s Harbour Wind in the Group 2 Prix Chaudenary at Longchamp.
I suggest having lunch after Harbour Wind’s race. The fourballs will be in their early exchanges and prepare you for Trueshan and Emily Dickinson in the Prix du Cadran, which is scheduled for 1.33pn. Ryan Moore is at Newmarket, so Frankie Dettori takes over on Aidan O’Brien’s filly, and I think she can turn over Trueshan to give Irish voices more reasons to cheer in Paris. That said, perhaps Run For Oscar could be value.
At 1.50pm, Ryan will be hoping he is at the right venue when he goes to post on Capulet in the Royal Lodge stakes. He probably is. Still, this Group 2 is only a warm-up event for the next two Group 1s at Newmarket - the Cheveley Park and Middle Park Stakes. There are 20 minutes here for golf and the early exchanges between Argentina and Chile in Nantes.
Relief Rally is a short-priced favourite in the Cheveley Park, at 2.25pm, but it catches my eye that Christophe Soumillon is here and not in Paris, so that has me leaning towards his mount, Jasna’s Secret. There are 15 minutes of the Ryder Cup next and the Rugby half-time highlights.
Over in Paris at 2.58pm, those ducking the Middle Park and staying at Group 2 level have their shot at glory in the Criterium d’Automne. Islandsinthestream can regain a winning thread for Joseph O’Brien now he doesn’t have to deal with Henry Longfellow.
Hopefully Newmarket will follow its usual slow trend, and the 3 o’clock Middle Park will be late, so we can change channels in time to see the real reason Ryan Moore stayed close to home: River Tiber.
The reports could not have been worse before his last start, at Deauville, so it’s easy to forgive him for that blip and believe he will turn the tables with Vandeek. Then, we can enjoy another 20 minutes of the Ryder Cup, where most matches should be on the back nine and Argentina out of sight of Chile.
The tricolours could still be flying in Paris for the Prix de Royallieu, at 3.33pm. However, the French could lower them with Melo Melo, before the lottery run of the Cambridgeshire on the Rowley Mile at 3.40pm. That will end my interest in Newmarket, and it will become France, Rome and Kilkenny from there on.
The Jack Duggan Memorial at 4pm in Gowran will be followed by Caracal and Dylan Browne McMonagle in the 4.08pm at Longchamp. A return to the Ryder Cup, at approximately 4:12pm, will be followed by the 4.35pm at Gowran Park, where Envoi Allen and Gentlemansgame taken on the race-fit Easy Game. Class always tells, so it’s got to be Envoi Allen.
We can then pop back to Paris for Flight Leader in the 4.43pm, just before Fiji kick off with Georgia in Bordeaux, which must be mixed with the end of the Ryder Cup fourballs while waiting for Letsbeclearaboutit in the 5.45pm at Gowran.
Fiji will have won by 6.45pm, leaving an hour off for dinner and time to check the soccer highlights before Scotland and Georgia kick off at 8pm.
Sunday will, at least, afford a lie-in and won’t require you to be on the couch before 10.35am, for the Ryder Cup singles. Both lopsided rugby matches don’t start until 4.45pm and 8pm. Longchamp and Tipperary will be the inserts into the golf, where all 12 games will have teed off before the 1:15pm in Paris, where Rosallion will be happy to be back on a sound surface.
Time zones help, so the inserts into the golf come at 1.50pm for Opera Singer in the Prix Marcel Boussac, at 3.05pm for Ace Impact in the Arc - or Simca Mille if you fancy one at a price. It’s then Birdie Or Bust in the 3.15pm at Tipperary, Al Husn in the Prix de l’Opera at 3.50pm, with a quick flick for the end of Zarak The Brave at the same time in Tipperary.
The 4.25pm race in Longhcamp, the Prix de l’Abbaye, will only require a minute’s switch for and the golf should be over before the Foret, at 5pm, clashes with Sharjah in the Dundrum Novice Chase.
You can decide for yourself if you want to watch golfers or Frankie Dettori spraying champagne then after he has won the last on Kinross, but plenty will be celebrating a magical weekend of sport.
