Geraghty’s kindness to Sprinter Sacre at Ascot could well reap a rich dividend
Racing, probably even more than other sport, doesn’t half divide opinion and, no sooner had Sprinter Sacre passed the post at Ascot, than just about every shade was quickly represented.
A lot of observers opined that the horse will never be the same again and plenty seemed to think he is essentially finished.
There were those as well who thought it was a satisfactory comeback, although you’d struggle a little to find anyone willing to be wildly enthusiastic.
At his pomp, Sprinter Sacre was the most exciting chaser on this planet and basically unbeatable.
But then fate intervened and his much publicised heart problem saw the horse on the sidelines for more than a year — 386 days to be precise.
After he had been pulled up that day at Kempton, December 27, 2013, by Barry Geraghty, it would have been no great surprise if Sprinter Sacre never ran again. He was soon diagnosed as having an irregular heartbeat.
But Nicky Henderson and his team have patiently and meticulously nursed him to reasonable health and Saturday was Sprinter Sacre’s first step on the comeback trail.
Personally, I liked what I saw at Ascot, although freely admitting it was not the Sprinter Sacre of old.
But surely that was asking too much of a horse who had endured more than his share of both physical and psychological trauma.
Take the case, for instance, of a top Premiership footballer, returning from an enforced absence, for whatever reason, of a year.
There is absolutely no way his manager would put straight him back into the team. No, he would almost certainly come on for brief periods near the end of at least a game or two, or more.
The day the player finally starts a game chances are he would be the first to be taken off!
But in Sprinter Sacre’s case there was no choice but to throw him in at the deep end, in a competitive Grade 1.
That was always going to be difficult enough and made even more difficult by Tony McCoy’s decision to set such a strong pace throughout on Somersby.
To my eyes Sprinter Sace travelled with his usual enthusiasm, although his jumping, at least on occasions, was less than electric.
Nevertheless, he came there swinging in the straight and simply got tired in the closing stages.
Geraghty was quite brilliant. The moment he sensed that his partner had no more to offer, he accepted it and did not subject Sprinter Sacre to a hard race.
Of course, it was worrying that traces of blood were subsequently found in the horse’s nose, although connections have made little of that.
Would I go out now and back Sprinter Sacre for the Champion Chase at Cheltenham? Not in a million years.
But, come the day of the race, given that all has been positive on the lead-in to the festival, then a wager would have to be given due consideration. Geraghty’s kindness to Sprinter Sacre at Ascot could well reap a rich dividend.
Charlie Swan leaving the training ranks has to be regarded as particularly sad.
Swan, a gentleman, was one of the best jockeys this country has ever produced and his association with the great Istabraq is legendary.
Swan never hit anywhere near the same heights as a trainer, but, with Gigginstown House Stud and J P McManus on his side, he would not have been favourite to be the first to leave the pitch.
But leave it he will and you have to admire his courage in arriving at a decision that could not have been easy.
If Swan cannot survive with some 35 horses in his care then this has to be the tip of the iceberg.
I could name at least a dozen trainers, without any thought whatsoever, who are currently trying to make a living with way less horses.
They have a chance of staying in if their wife, or whoever, is bringing home a few quid, or they have some other source of income.
But for those depending exclusively on training racehorses there is every reason to think it is simply a matter of time before the plug is pulled.
HRI did a fair bit of spinning with their figures recently, but they do not mask the sad state this game is in for the middle to low-ranking trainers.
There are a number of them that are flying and the massive investment by Gigginstown, McManus, Rich Ricci, Barry Connell and Ann and Alan Potts paper over the true state of National Hunt racing in this country.
The vast majority of trainers are literally hanging on for dear life and the only question to be answered is who will be next to enter the departure lounge?
