Harrington trained a Grade 1 winner for McManus 8 days earlier© Photo Healy Racing
What's been most interesting about the High Tail It case at Tipperary hasn't been so much the penalties handed out under 'non-trier' rules as reactions which basically revolve around variants on a 'see worse every day' theme. Inevitably riding shotgun to that view is an implication that those involved might have been hard done by. And the stewarding situation in Ireland means it is possible to see the logic in both points and yet resolutely maintain the officials on duty were dead right.
It brings to mind the old yarn about the legendary actor David Niven returning from Hollywood to join up at the outbreak of World War 2, an option conspicuously avoided by other star names at the time.
Circumstance brought Niven into contact with Winston Churchill shortly after getting home and the British PM said to him: "How admirable that you have left fame and fortune to return and serve your country." Niven's mumbled reply was quickly interrupted by Churchill - "But if you hadn't, it would have been most despicable!"
Watching re-runs of Friday's race, albeit without access to head-on shots, there's no arguing that from before the straight Mark Bolger is more active on High Tail It than plenty jockeys who haven't had their collar felt at all in the past. There is also the reality that maiden hurdles in April are hardly renowned for quality so what High Tail It quickened past so spectacularly is debatable. But even allowing for all that, if the stewards hadn't acted they would have been ducking their duty.
Making comparisons to other cases, no matter how plentiful, or how supposedly worse, doesn't alter that. Countless wrongs don't make a right, and the stewards got this right, and in circumstances where other panels might have ducked it. What really appears to have surprised many is that a JP McManus owned horse that is trained by Jessica Harrington got penalised - a 42 ban for the horse, a grand for the trainer while Bolger got suspended for seven days.
The stewards can hardly have the old chestnut about only-going-for-the-little-guy thrown at them over this. So all in all, it's a thumbs-up to the Tipperary officials for doing, what in reality, they should only be expected to do.
What will continue to plague officiating in this country however is the lack of consistency that automatically comes from having different panels of stewards at different tracks. High Tail It's connections can feel aggrieved that nothing may very well have occurred if they'd decided to run elsewhere. And punters are continually aggrieved by the uncertainty that regularly occurs from a flawed rulebook being too reliant on subjective interpretation.
This space continues to be a one-string-banjo in terms of how best to inject consistency into the system but a panel of professional stewards, even with the automatic messages of intent and accountability they bring, still doesn't seem to be a runner, even in the medium term.
For now though, if High Tail It is to be a reference point for future action by stewards, then it should make for an interesting summer.
What always makes for interesting summers is the subject of watering. It appears a subject that particularly vexes Ger Lyons and the Co. Meath based trainer has expressed frustration at how the authorities at the Cork track watered over the weekend ahead of today's flat fixture where the forecast ground is officially "good."
Lyons believes horses that like quick ground are often not best-served in this country in terms of watering and points out that the optimum ground conditions for flat racing are "good to firm" so why water to achieve good ground ahead of a flat meeting?
The answer is complicated by cross-code considerations. Watering to keep ground on the easy side of good will be a priority at Punchestown next week and if that's the criteria for the top meetings, why shouldn't it be for the lesser ones? But you can see the point in flat terms: it is ridiculous to water ground to "good" for flat horses.
This looks one to run and run, probably with plenty of dig in it too.
Talking of Punchestown, news that Willie Mullins is pondering whether or not to change the habits of a lifetime and pitch either Vautour or Un De Sceaux into next week's Champion Chase adds another layer of intrigue to the festival.
Mullins's disinclination to tackle seniors with novices is rooted in commonsense but in this case either horse would hardly be tackling absolute top-notchers. If Vatuour lines up though, it will be interesting to view his performance through any potential Gold Cup prism. Only legends of the game have managed to operate at the top level from two miles to three and a quarter.
If the Guineas is getting close then so is the Kentucky Derby with the invariable drugs theme that always circulates through coverage of America's greatest race.
Mike De Kock's Mubtaahij will fly the international flag at Churchill Downs and the South African trainer has already outlined how his UAE Derby winner will not race on lasix, salix, furosemide, or whatever you want to call race-day dope which basically says to the rest of the world that American trainers can't train without using medication.
Recently, Michael Dickinson, a name well known and hugely credible both in these parts and in the USA, joined the American lobby group, the Water Hay Oats Alliance, which is working to pass legislation prohibiting the use of performance-enhancing drugs in North American racing.
Rarely willing to settle for one word when more will do, Dickinson outlined ten reasons for his stance, the most telling of which may have been: "It is not true to say that 'no drugs' is inhumane. The injury rate overseas is far less than the USA. If we are saying we need a shedload of drugs because our races and conditions are so severe, then maybe horseracing does not deserve to survive."
Clearly Dickinson wants racing to survive. He's only pointing out the basic flaw in the argument of those who say American racing conditions are unique enough to deserve unique drug rules. But if you get the sense he's whistling against the wind, you're probably right: it's a wind that spoke most eloquently of all when all those artificial surfaces, Dickinson's included, got ripped up.
