Irish Derby in decline
When Roger Varian withdrew Kingston Hill from last Saturday’s Irish Derby at the Curragh, he didn’t half set the cat among the pigeons.
As a result we have had top racing officials scurrying around Europe this week - if that’s not too much of an exaggeration - in an effort to “save’’ the race.
I’ll bet a pound to a penny that had Kingston Hill run at the Curragh, and either beaten Australia, or at least bustled him up, there wouldn’t be a word about this.
Last Saturday only emphasised, what many had long realised, that the Irish Derby, along with the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, is a race that has been in decline for a long time.
The you-know-what should have hit the fan two years ago when Camelot beat four moderate rivals at the Curragh.
I grew up thinking the King George was one of the great flat races of the season, bringing together the best of the three-year-olds against the older horses.
Those of us who were young men in the 70’s were completely spoilt. The King George was won in 1970 by Nijinsky and in the following years went to Mill Reef, Brigadier Gerard, then twice to the brilliant filly, Dahlia, and in 1975 to Grundy.
That Grundy King George, of course, has legendary status, after he got the best of a pulsating battle with Bustino.
Then there were other magnificent winners of the Ascot showpiece, such as The Minstrel, Troy, Shergar, Reference Point, Nashwan, Galileo, Dancing Brave and St Jovite.
But those extraordinary days are over, they are long gone and the King George has been in decline for a decade or more.
And the Irish Derby has been heading in exactly the same direction for a number of years as well.
Much of the problem, of course, has been Aidan O’Brien’s almost total dominance, having won eight of the last nine runnings of the race.
But it is a complete waste of time attempting to apportion blame to O’Brien, Ballydoyle-Coolmore, whoever.
What are they supposed to do, stand back and given someone else a chance? Ridiculous.
Jim Bolger broke the O’Brien stranglehold on the Derby last year, winning with Trading Leather.
But that wasn’t exactly a vintage renewal either. At least the race had nine runners, but they certainly haven’t done much between them in the meantime.
Trading Leather has produced some decent efforts since, but the bare facts are that he has failed to score in four subsequent outings.
Others who ran in the race, and have since failed to win, are the ill-fated Galileo Rock, Festive Cheer, Ruler Of The World, Libertarian and Sugar Boy.
Little White Cloud never ran again, while Cap O’Rushes won once from five outings and Ralston Road twice in nine runs.
Racing’s top officials can run around Europe and tweak the current system as much as they want but, you suspect, it won’t make any difference.
The bottom line is that there are simply nowhere near enough top-class staying three-year-olds around any more.
The French have long thrown in the towel and their so-called Derby this year was won by relatively modest The Grey Gatsby.
The Epsom Derby indicated that Australia and Kingston Hill were head and shoulders over everything else. Kingston Hill was only beaten a length and a quarter, so there was hope for him.
But the rest, the evidence told us, hadn’t a prayer if they came to the Curragh and all the British horses stayed at home.
Dermot Weld allowed Fascinating Rock, eighth at Epsom, take his chance and John Oxx ran Ponfeigh.
They were both trained on site at the racecourse, but if based in Britain there is no way they would have arrived at the Curragh.
And Aidan O’Brien then topped up the field with the no-hopers, Kingfisher and Orchestra, 10th and 12th respectively at Epsom.
What is amusing is if Australia had actually missed the race, O’Brien would still have saddled the first two. Hilarious or what? In lots of ways both the Irish Derby and the King George are victims of a major change of thinking on the part of many within racing.
They are 12-furlong races and, if a horse with pretensions to be a top-class stallion, has already proved himself at that distance then there is no great benefit to running in either contest.
For instance, everyone knew when Australia won on Saturday there was absolutely no possibility whatsoever he’d be heading for Ascot.
It would simply be commercial suicide, all that matters now for Australia is that he wins a Group 1 at ten furlongs.
Back to the Irish Derby and here is one fact that is quite astonishing. The race has not been won by a British-trained horse since the filly Balanchine scored in 1994. Ridden by Frankie Dettori, she was owned by Maktoum Al Maktoum and trained by Hilal Ibrahim.
The decline of the Irish Derby isn’t anybody’s fault, it’s just that top-class races over a mile and a half in high summer are no longer where this game is at.
Can the race ever get back to what it was? Probably not, although you would love if it at least provided some sort of spectacle and not the total non-event we witnessed a week ago. We live in hope, but don’t hold your breath.
