Ascot’s sartorial snobbery just another step in wrong direction
When it comes to racing the English appear utterly determined to continually shoot themselves in the foot.
They have made a complete mess of the whip rules and there seems no way out for the authorities, as we bound relentlessly towards Cheltenham. The BHA is adamant that eight strokes will continue to be the maximum a jockey can administer in a National Hunt race and as long as they maintain such a stance then we are heading for a disaster, at least in racing terms.
Do not have the slightest doubt that there is every possibility the likes of Hurricane Fly, Long Run and Kauto Star will be sideshows come March, with the whip taking centre stage.
But, just as we thought things could not possibly get any worse in England, we had that dress code farce at Ascot last Saturday.
This really took the biscuit. Ascot has decided you cannot enter their premier enclosure unless wearing suitable attire, namely a jacket and tie.
It is a relatively new and totally ridiculous edict and many patrons were, naturally, caught out.
But instead of merely having it pointed out to them some idiot, or idiots, concluded that they should be forced to wear an orange sticker.
The point, I presume, was to publicise their naughtiness and to serve as a reminder not to come to Ascot again in such a “dishevelled’ state.
I know plenty of hardened Irish punters who wouldn’t half have told them where to shove the stickers, if they had been at Ascot.
In the first place the whole notion of going to Ascot, in the middle of winter, for a day’s racing and being told what to wear is so stupid as to simply defy logic.
I’ve been to the new Ascot and it is a magnificent facility. I was there on a Saturday in November, 2010, when Paul Nicholls had a treble, including Master Minded and Silviniaco Conti.
It was a terrific afternoon’s day’s racing and people were allowed to dress in whatever took their fancy. As I recall there was a fine crowd and distinctly remember thinking what an Irish racecourse would give to attract a similar attendance on a Saturday.
But, of course, you always have smart-arses who know better than everyone else, don’t know when to close their big gobs and to leave well enough alone.
And so it came to pass that the lunatics took over the asylum and Ascot decided they knew best when it came to the clothes one should wear when afforded the honour of attending a meeting at the track.
You know here in Ireland we often give out about HRI, the Turf Club and, maybe, the odd racecourse manager or two.
But, compared to what goes on across the water, the people we have in charge of our game are bloody geniuses.
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In last Sunday’s Racing Post, Pricewise (Tom Segal) put up Oscars Business as his only bet of the day in a Listed race for mares at Fairyhouse.
Segal is regarded as a top tipster and such is his reputation that bookmakers frequently take evasive action and run for cover.
You could understand why he was fancying Oscars Business, he wasn’t the only one, because she had a very progressive profile and had won her previous two races in fine style.
Nevertheless, she still had a bit to prove and there was no doubt that Willie Mullins’ Ceol Rua was the form horse and that Oscars Business had to improve past her.
Anyway, the point is that Pricewise or no Pricewise, Ceol Rua had to be favourite in the morning!
But not a bit of it. The layers went with Oscars Business, made her market leader, with Ceol Rua on offer as high as 5-2.
I’d say fans of Ceol Rua couldn’t believe their luck. In the end logic won the day, with Ceol Rua hammered to 6-4 favourite and Oscars Business easing to a far more realistic 3-1, from 15-8.
As it turned out Oscars Business just wasn’t on a going day, running no sort of race, with Ceol Rua getting the most magical of drives from Ruby Walsh to score by half a length.
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I can never get my head around punters who have no hesitation backing horses at particularly restrictive odds.
But there are still a handful of them about and they were at it again at Fairyhouse on Sunday with Willie Mullins’ Champagne Fever in the bumper. The 1-3 was well taken and he hardened to 1-4, before winning unextended by 13 lengths. So the guy who had a loose €3,000 burning a hole in his pocket won €1,000 and went home content with the wages.
You can’t quibble with a 33% return on your investment and it took less than five minutes. Not even Anglo Irish Bank, in its pomp, would give you that. But the day it goes belly-up…!
