Ruby Walsh: Three racing wishes — Fill Cheltenham, bolster Aintree's Thursday and reignite Epsom Derby
The bush telegraph is also flooded with stories of proposed tweaks to the Cheltenham Festival but restoration should be the aim, not change. Pic: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
By Monday lunchtime, all I was reading was Albert Einstein for the 2000 Guineas. Things move quick. Gaelic Warrior hadn’t even led Lossiemouth and Il Etait Temps through the village of Leighlinbridge for their homecoming parade.
But already, it was ok, what's next? Ribee had won the Lincolnshire on Sunday under Declan McDonagh for Micheal Mulvaney at the Curragh’s opening meeting, and Ballydoyle held its media morning Monday. The horse named after the man who developed the theory of relativity, brought the Cheltenham stories to an end, and the gravity of the world we live in is what's next.
For some, that will be Sunday's Irish Racing Writers Association Madrid Handicap at Naas and whether Aiden O'Brien will unleash another Paddington in the disguise of Causeway. Others may wonder whether You Oughta Know will repel Uhavemeinstitches in the Hugh McMahon Memorial Novice Chase at Limerick at 4.02. More will just be sifting through the 44 races being run Saturday in Britain and Ireland in the search for a winner, and not even looking beyond that.
However, the news from Cheltenham's owners, The Jockey Club, grabbed my attention far more than anything this week - it looks like a nice cash injection, but a body under pressure, is it all it seemed?
They revealed a £100m deal under which they sold catering and hospitality rights to Compass for 20 years. On the back of that came plans for Cheltenham, Aintree and Epsom refurbishments and upgrades and whilst I am not in the construction trade, a rough estimate would put the plans and projections well above the income from this particular deal.
Therefore, we can expect more news from the Jockey Club regarding other new revenue streams. The sale of Kempton looks inevitable, but the bush telegraph is also flooded with stories of proposed changes to the Cheltenham Festival.
No one doubts the need for upgrades to current facilities at these three marquee venues, but in terms of what these proposed changes would entail, one wonders if the sport is going to overstep its appeal in the search for future riches? I am a dyed-in-the-wool racing fan, but I am not naive enough to believe any day's racing could have competed, for the mass audience that racing needs, with the Six Nations last Saturday.
Britain may well have the population to fill Cheltenham racecourse on the Saturday. Still, the sport will not gain the mainstream attention it deserves at this level if it goes toe-to-toe with the rugby and the Premier League. And the worrying part is that those at the Jockey Club who moved the Derby from Wednesday to a Saturday have long since departed. The Derby as an event is dying. I was there last year, and I admire those who have taken up the fight to rebuild it, but I can’t believe they are contemplating making the same mistakes those who handed them the mess made.
The Cheltenham Festival has already been stretched to breaking point, but new management has given it a fresh perspective and restoration should be the aim, not change. Everyone wants to leave their mark or legacy, but the Masters and the Open have never contemplated a fifth day, even though the demand may be there for it. Some things need a value, and other racing festivals already cater for lower grades, so if this group leading the Jockey Club want to leave their mark, chase quality, not quantity.
Fill Cheltenham, bolster the Thursday at Aintree and reignite the Derby as an event.
Of course, I'd thrill in the idea that racing could top other sports on the weekend, but it can’t and placing yourself where you can catch the media’s attention is the obvious place to do that. Aiden O'Brien had the media in on a Monday, Willie Mullins paraded his Cheltenham stars last Wednesday. One flooded social media as the master of Ballydoyle dropped hints and clues, and the other made the nine o'clock news and countless newspapers. Neither has a degree in PR; they just know their market.
But I was listening early last week, and Albert Einstein has been logged in my subconscious to be remembered on the final day of Punchestown, when he will go to post at Newmarket around about the same time Wodhooh could be running in the Mares' Hurdle. By then, all of the horses running will have encountered a sounder surface, which is a note that has been placed in my March 2027 diary. “Be aware of changing ground”, as a sounder surface, and more reliance on speed caught me out 10 days ago, but what I also learnt last week was that entertainment comes in many forms.
The handbags at lunchtime between Declan Queally and Nico De Boinville before and after the Turners Novices' Hurdle generated as much interest in the race as King Rasko Grey did by winning it. I am sure neither enjoyed the aftermath, but like a skirmish on a pitch or a manager's comments after a game, sometimes things other than sport help generate interest. Likewise, for Willie Mullins and JP McManus regarding their ground comments, and whether you agreed or disagreed with them, they created a talking point.
Both may be done and dusted now but they created interest in the action at Cheltenham last week. Have no doubt, Jim McGuinness will be chased on Sunday in Clones about his League final comments and Rory McIlroy will be poked about Jon Rahm or some such when he faces the press. As we've seen with the Premier League, the action off the pitch can drive interest in what happens on it.
