Treve winning The Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe © Photo Healy Racing
The Coolmore team have never left anyone in doubt of their passionate devotion to Epsom Derby success but there seems to be a comparative ambivalence from racing’s most powerful operation towards Europe’s other great mile and a half prize, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. It’s a point which will again be starkly made by the absence of Australia from Sunday’s race, thirteen years after the dual-Derby winner’s sire Galileo skipped out on Longchamp.
In Galileo’s case, the Breeders Cup Classic was deemed more important. For Australia it looks like being either the QEII at a mile or the Champion Stakes at Ascot. In both cases, both eyes look to be squarely focussed on the stallion brochure, and since Coolmore is the world’s biggest commercial thoroughbred enterprise, one can hardly argue they don’t know what they’re doing in that department.
Maybe Australia will prove a business point by winning a Group 1 at a mile, or by overturning that shock Leopardstown defeat to The Grey Gatsby. But it is remarkable how much of the bloodstock game runs on tradition, even with stirrings of sentiment thrown in, and would a brochure plugging a horse capable of completing the ultimate Derby-Arc double really pale in comparison to, well, anything?
The Derby and the Arc represent the pinnacle of European racing. Bloodstock commercialism was supposed to have rung the death-knell for both many times over the years. At the time the attempt to morph Galileo into a dirt-horse was viewed as a definitive sign of the future. But it’s a future that hasn’t happened yet. Instead, eight years later, Sea The Stars sealed his legend by winning an Arc in addition to a Derby. And he hasn’t exactly flopped at stud because of that. Come to think, the 1999 Arc hero Montjeu wasn’t a bad stallion either.
The Epsom-Longchamp double is perhaps the most exclusive in racing, pulled off by other landmark names such as Sea Bird and Mill Reef. Joining that sort of company has got to look good on a brochure. With decent ground being forecast for Longchamp, and clouds of doubt hanging over most of the principals, it might emerge that tackling the Arc this year winds up no more difficult a task than dropping back to a mile, or taking on The Grey Gatsby & Co at Ascot.
Then again, Australia tackling the Arc would have probably involved a change of jockey. Frankie Dettori wound up riding Camelot at Longchamp in 2012 because Joseph O’Brien wasn’t able to do 8.11. Australia though doesn’t appear to be an especially quirky individual and from an outside, hopelessly non-invested point of view, it’s hard not to think a trick might be being missed here.
Ordinarily commenting on someone’s weight is the height of bad manners. Certainly those of us packing sufficient reserves to stand losing a stone or three are familiar with the appropriate riposte to such comments which usually involves little variation on a ‘f—k off’ theme. But the fact is that jockeys make their living from a job which can correctly demand comment if their weight becomes an issue.
It has been suggested to this corner that outlining Joseph O’Brien’s struggle with weight might be considered unfair on a young man making herculean efforts to consistently boil his six-foot frame down to nine stone. What is achieved by it except possibly to increase the already substantial levels of pressure on him? And you’d have to be made of granite not to sympathise sometimes with someone whose fundamental problem is having a body that is infuriatingly the wrong shape for his chosen job.
But the key word is chosen. In a world where so many have no choice at all in their struggles, this is comparatively trivial stuff. But trivial is not the same as irrelevant and making weight is supremely relevant to those betting on the horses that jockeys ride. That is the same for a bad handicap as a Group 1. Rare is the rider who doesn’t spend much of their time preoccupied by their next date with the scales. But rarer still is the rider in line to ride the quality of animal that O’Brien does. With that considerable perk comes attention.
Like it or not, O’Brien has a history of putting up overweight. Pointing that out is not victimisation. It’s simply fact. And it became an especially high-profile fact when it emerged he weighed in 1lb heavy after Australia’s Irish Champion Stakes defeat. Combined with a howler of a ride, the idea that attention should somehow be deflected from that fact is delusional.
This was relevant stuff. In fact it was so relevant the question can be legitimately asked of the authorities as to why it wasn’t made known on the day.
Three days later O’Brien weighed in 1.6lbs overweight after winning a Listowel maiden and got a one day suspension because it was over 1.5lbs. But in our supposed information age, is it not ridiculous that after one of the most high-profile races in the world, the rider of the narrowly beaten 3-10 favourite can weigh in 1lb overweight and the public on the day is not informed due to what is basically a technicality?
Only the most gormless can’t feel sympathy for a jockey struggling to make weight. By all accounts from those who’ve faced the stark reality of the scales every morning, it can be a mind-bending nightmare. But jockeys making weight is of fundamental interest to the betting public. And the reality is the most high-profile horses attract the most attention.
No doubt O’Brien feels like telling everyone to ‘f—k off’ sometimes, and he’s entitled to feel it. Actually the restraint he showed in the midst of the ‘Champions Weekend’ furore was admirable, reflective perhaps of an intelligence which realises that a jockey telling the world to ‘f—k off’ over weight is simply unrealistic.
Telling those in the bullshit game to ‘f—k off’ is a futile pastime too. Even so this supposed attempt to identify the World’s Best Jockey by totting up points from Group 1 races around the world tempts one to indulge in futility. Identifying the best jockey anywhere is easy – it’s whoever won the last race.
