Ruby Walsh: Why miss an open goal?
BACK FOR MORE: Champ may be able to roll back the years in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot on Saturday. Picture: Healy Racing
I know I write this line every year, but why, in an entertainment business, is a glorious opportunity like Saturday December 23rd left blank in Irish racing? It is baffling, and it even has me wondering, after seeing the success first-hand of how Melbourne Cup week works, if either Leopardstown or Limerick should be moving their last day's racing from December 29 to today.
Flemington races on Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday instead of four days in a row. Without ever having been in Limerick for day four but having not missed Leopardstown too often, December 29 is the day most in need of attention.
The powers that be can trot out the line that stable staff need time off for Christmas too, which is valid were it not for the fact that every single member of the Irish racing stable staff community, jockey and trainer will work today and tomorrow morning.
Split shifts will come into play from lunchtime on Christmas Eve, and those on the 24th afternoon and 25th will swap with those off for the 31st and 1st shifts. C’est la vie for anyone who works with animals; the same will go for some hotel staff and plenty of other people who will keep the wheels turning in various sectors of life, where closing the door for an hour, let alone 36, is not an option.
Hospitals, Shelters, Garda Stations, ESB plants, and every essential service we have to keep moving, and those in the entertainment business profit most when the rest of the world is on holiday. It is not rocket science as to why the 29th crowds dwindle compared to the 26th, 27th, and 28th. It is just that people have gone back to earning instead of spending.
The UK do race today, and the French never miss an opportunity, racing both tomorrow and Monday, which I feel is a tad over the top. Still, when you have had your fill of busy last-minute shopping by noon today, Ascot and Haydock can be found on a TV somewhere — for the time being, anyway — to pass the afternoon away.
The Long Walk Hurdle, at 2.25pm, is the feature, and some young guns, in the shape of West Balboa and Crambo, head the market to take down stalwarts like Paisley Park, Dashel Drasher, Champ and Botox Has. Maybe they will, and shrewder judges than me create the markets which suggest they will, but I will have to see it to believe it, and Champ, at odds of 5-1, appeals to me.
His record first time out in the last two years is rock-solid and a season-best, suggesting today is the day to catch him. Elsewhere on the card, Solo and Triple Trade look worthy favourites before the concluding Betfair Exchange Hurdle brings the curtain down on the action, highlighting the struggles British racing faces in no uncertain fashion.
Eleven runners will face the starter for a total prize fund of £150,000. They range in ability from Hansard at the top, with a rating of 142, to Onlyamatteroftime at the bottom, rated 116. That is 26lbs in weight range or 12st to 10st2lb in absolute terms, but the scary part is that for this prize money, the UK has 10 runners and Ireland has one. The Irish one is the one rated 116, but if you are wondering on St Stephen's Day why Constitution Hill has a solo run or on the 29th and why so few are lining up in the Mathesson, remember this race.
When the knife is taken to the programme book, and races like the Morgiana Hurdle are downgraded or axed, remember this race. When people tell you they would prefer to stay in Ireland with this type of horse, remember only 17 lined up in the equivalent race at the DRF last February. When people tell you handicaps are the only way forward for the competitiveness of horse racing, remind them that three of the four most valuable two-mile handicap hurdles run in the last 12 months did not reach a maximum field.
I want to enjoy Christmas, so my ranting stops here, but for those who have the power to enact change, perhaps they could reflect over the festive period as to whether they want change or are only going to window dress.
I hope Santa comes to whatever house you are in, but if he doesn't, I will have many options on Tuesday to try to put that right.
