Low expectations were matched by Champion crowd

THE attendance at last Saturday's Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown was 8,289 and that seems to have satisfied the management at the track and the people in authority in racing.

It was a perfectly acceptable crowd, of course, but you could hardly describe starting the meeting some two hours later than normal as a roaring success either, given that it was only up by 566 on the previous year.

The notion an attendance well below 10,000 at such a high-profile meeting is thought to be fine is simply because there are no great expectations anymore when it comes to flat racing in this country.

There are loads of reasons for this; the fact many flat horses aren't around for anything like as long as their National Hunt counterparts and are, thus, less familiar, that you can watch in the comfort of your own home and that the odds on Betfair, just a phone call or the push of a button away, are much better than those available on track anyway.

But there has to be one other major cause and that is how difficult it is to get a handle on exactly what is going on in flat racing. If you are not on the inside track, or alternatively just inspired, then are odds against making a profit.

The situation has been greatly muddied by the Ballydoyle riding arrangements. When Johnny Murtagh was the number one jockey there, or Michael Kinane and Jamie Spencer before him, then you had a chance.

For much of last season, as Joseph O'Brien became a player, there was an amount of confusion. This season, however, has been much worse. Young O'Brien, Colm O'Donoghue and Seamie Heffernan now appear to enjoy equal standing and that has left punters totally confused.

Leopardstown on Saturday offered two illustrations of what turns punters off. Take the Group 1 Matron Stakes.

O'Brien ran three in the race, with Misty For Me (Heffernan) and Together (O'Donoghue) clearly entitled to major preference over Wild Wind (Joseph). As somebody who believes the form book is the best guide to finding winners, I wanted to be with Misty For Me.

After all Misty For Me had shown in the past she was better than Together and was rated 8lbs her superior. But as the day progressed it became increasingly clear caution was seriously advised.

As the contest neared, strong rumours began to surface that a Ballydoyle insider was with Together and then there was major opposition on Betfair to Misty For Me.

Those laying Misty For Me got it right and Together finished in front of her, but still behind eventual winner Emulous. O'Brien was also responsible for three of the seven runners in the Group 3 Kilternan Stakes, Look At Me (Heffernan), Viscount Nelson (O'Donoghue) and Freedom (David McCabe).

Look At Me, arguably their strongest in the market, did best in second with the form horse Viscount Nelson, admittedly less than reliable and very easy in the ring and on the exchanges, trailing in seventh of seven.

The Matron and Kilternan were two decent prizes and O'Brien was entitled to fire as many arrows as he wanted.

All I am saying is it is virtually impossible to follow what is happening, many punters are constantly finding themselves looking in the wrong direction and it just sours them when it comes to flat racing.

Then there was the first at Leopardstown, a seven furlongs maiden won by Jessica Harrington's Silver Sycamore.

If you backed Ahimsa in this contest - I didn't - you really were left scratching the head. On this track previously, over the same trip and on virtually the same ground, the pair had clashed.

Jim Bolger's Lady Wingshot won that particular contest, beating Ahimsa into second by half a length.

Silver Sycamore, who had no excuses that I could see, was about another three parts of a length behind in fourth.

But last Saturday, Silver Sycamore trounced fourth-placed Ahimsa by four and three quarter lengths, which made no sense at all.

Which takes us onto So You Think and that hard fought half a length defeat of Snow Fairy in the Champion Stakes. It confirmed, what many seemed to already believe anyway, that So You Think is a top-class, rock-solid, Group 1 performer, but nowhere near being a superstar.

He wasn't value for any more against Snow Fairy, nor was he value for more than the half a length by which he beat Workforce in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown.

You do not hear Workforce, even if he did win the ’Arc, or Snow Fairy ever being described as superstars, so, by extension, you can hardly be putting So You Think into a category which is reserved for the likes of Sea The Stars.

Now that was a true superstar.