Ruby Walsh: Punchestown has shown the elite can be merged with the masses to entertain
Jack Kennedy and Paul Townend wish each other luck ahead of their battle for the jockey's title
Mathematically, the jockeys’ championship wasn’t done and dusted before racing on Friday. Still, realistically, a draw would be a massive achievement for Paul, who trailed by six with ten rides remaining. On paper, yesterday was his strongest day, and he kicked it off on Mister Policeman at 4.15. He needed four of today’s five to collect.
The first two didn’t, and now he needed to go on a winning streak like never before. State Man collected, Ballyburn followed, and Anotherway looked home for all money going to the last in his race. He missed it, lost momentum, and folded to finish third. Two was better than one but not what he needed, and Jack Kennedy has one hand on the crown.
The final day jamboree is where all the champions are crowned for their fine work throughout the season, but champions are only made because of the competition they have beaten, and all are crowned off the back of the athletes they own, train or ride. Irish National Hunt racing is enjoying a spell like nothing I can remember because now we have the best horses here, and the best of our human talent is staying here, too.
That's all one giant wheel, but when British racing started to change how it was funded after the turn of the century and what drove its income, that wheel slowly began to turn. Even though the credit crash in 2007/08/09, the solid government funding we have enabled Irish racing to maintain decent levels of prize money and our program, not heavily reliant on turnover generated from big field handicaps, was able to sell the dream of success to the most vital cog in the wheel: owners.
What followed was an investment in Irish-based trainers - some will say not enough of them - but the investment in Irish trainers allowed them to buy and keep the best horses, and what followed was the jockeys.
It is only 24 years ago that to ride the best horses, the majority of Irish-born jockeys crossed the Irish Sea but can you imagine Paul Townend, Rachael Blackmore, Jack Kennedy or Mark Walsh following Richard Dunwoody, A P McCoy, Adrain Maguire or Norman Williamson to the UK in a quest to succeed?
I, like Barry Geraghty, Paul Carberry, and Davy Russell did, but we all returned home because we were following one thing: horses, and where the money was being invested in them. That investment has allowed Willie Mullins to prosper, Gordon Elliott to grow and challenge him, Henry de Bromhead, Gavin Cromwell, and a few more to develop. Irish racing has become the premier league, and rather than wondering what is winning on a winter Saturday afternoon at the likes of Haydock, Sandown or Newbury, what's winning at Naas, Navan or Fairyhouse interests as much.
Yes, our trainers do venture out of Dublin port and raid those venues regularly, and the sterling is coming this way at a much higher rate than the euro is going in the opposite direction, but dominance never lasts in any walk of life, yet there seems to be a movement gathering pace than our product needs saving.
It doesn't. It must be enjoyed, savoured, publicised, and grown. We have been the leaders in terms of producing people who travel the world to excel in the horse racing business, and now we have a product on our doorstep where the best in this business are playing at home.
The equine and human talent displayed from Downpatrick to Killarney, Wexford to Sligo, are the Messis and Ronaldos of National Hunt racing. Attracting more to compete with them, investing more in our prize-money, and driving this sport forward is the next step.
We don't need dilution of the product or restrictions on the best. We need them to be even better. We need people to want to come here and watch them, to come to Ireland and spend money, and to make weekends out of the likes of Navan, Punchestown, and Fairyhouse in late November and early December.
Dublin for Christmas and a return journey for the DRF should be the plans of global National Hunt fans because we have the product, the government backing to keep it at a competitive price, and the talent to entertain.
Punchestown has shown this week that the elite can be merged with the masses to entertain, and today the stars are on show to be celebrated. But just remember, Gordon, Henry and co. are pushing Willie forward. Jack, Rachael, Danny, and Mark are driving Paul onward, and the staff in all the yards from north to south keep the wheels on the bus.
The likes of Danny Gilligan, Sam Ewing and Micheal O’Sullivan need reasons to stay on this Island. Philip Rothwell, Jimmy Mangan, Shark Hanlon and Tom Gibney, to name a few, have shown this season that our trainer talent pool is very deep, and all any of them needs is the right stock.
Willie Mullins, et al., have shown us that outside investment enjoys our product, but significant hurdles need to be jumped to maximise the young stock we have to get the conveyor belt turning more efficiently.
Somehow the market needs to be altered to get more of that stock in the hands of our smaller trainers. You can't go to a gunfight with a water pistol and expect to win, but there is no point in buying bullets if you don't have a gun or a target to shoot at.
Irish racing has targets, but the bullets are getting scarce, and the guns are in fewer hands. This is where the changes need to be made because the bullets are being manufactured, but the distribution has broken down, and too many guns don't have ammo.
Irish racing needs those in charge to think big because we can't save the sport in any other country, but we can improve our version. I want more of what we have, and I know this is my sport, but it is the one we are better at than anyone else who plays it.
It is a sport and a business, generating revenue for a country spending it faster than anyone can earn it, so let's earn more and maximise our incredible talent pool. Make it all one giant tourist attraction people want to be part of.
National Hunt racing is coming home.
