The Gurkha© Photo Healy Racing
If the 2,000 Guineas is famously the last two year old race then the Derby’s problem is being the first major three year old race. Not that it’s much of a problem for those in thrall to the sport. But since the Derby is racing’s ultimate classic prize, it’s position so soon in the season makes it a hard narrative sell to a public used to its sporting highlights presented in terms of a cumulative climax.
It’s not always an issue. Even at the time, Sea The Stars’ Derby smacked of something exceptional and the lead-up to it could be couched in such terms. Nevertheless our views of the great Derby winners are as much a reflection of what they achieved afterwards as much as what they did at Epsom itself. And that isn’t much use when trying to flog the race with less than three weeks to go.
The Derby market is now headed by three colts that between them have run eight times. None of them ran at all as two year olds. Wings Of Desire made his debut just over a month ago, took in a Wolverhampton maiden and wasn’t even quoted in Derby betting before his Dante success. That’s a tough sell.
It’s the same with US Army Ranger who in his two starts has basically fallen in and whose status is down to connections and reputation rather than anything he’s done to date.
Show that Chester Vase to a general audience, explain to them the runner up works out a better horse in bare weights terms, and then get them to jump up and down with excitement at the idea they’re watching something potentially exceptional.
It’s easier with The Gurkha’s French Guineas success. That performance contained an obvious trace of brilliance although First Selection finishing runner up — he was seventh in the English Guineas — is a form question mark that could yet prove largely irrelevant since Aidan O’Brien has always given the sense he feels a mile and a half will be a push for The Gurkha.
It is comparing apples and oranges in racing terms but it is a notable contrast with how Nyquist went into the Kentucky Derby unbeaten in seven, including four Grade 1’s. Whatever you think about his trainer, and his dubious medication record, the ‘Durby’ could still be easily hung around an outstanding horse potentially winning racing’s outstanding race. That makes sense to everyone.
Of course how you view such an issue revolves around how much you care about selling something to a general public who for most other days of the year barely pay any attention at all.
But 2016 isn’t some sort of blip. It is the nature of racing in this part of the world, and the progression of three year old mile and a half talent especially, that the idea of a Nyquist at Epsom is all but unimaginable these days.
Ruler Of The World ran just twice before he won the Derby, the same as Workforce. The latter proved himself an outstanding horse by going on to win the Arc and maybe Wings Of Desire or US Army Ranger will prove themselves just as outstanding in time.
But it’s a tough pitch to get the wider public excited about them right now. And by definition that means the Derby itself becomes a tough pitch.
There’s no magic wand solution either. The logical thing is to position the greatest classic prize of all later in the season but there are plenty impediments that make that a non-runner. So maybe the solution is to ban all Derby talk, and especially talk of Derby betting, until after the Dante!
The BHA has been branded a “shambles” over its handling of the Jim Best affair and it’s a tough description to argue with.
As we have seen in Ireland the appearance of lawyers into any disciplinary process is usually enough to sink the stoutest of hearts and it has helped result in racing officials here being left on the receiving end of plenty criticism, including the sort of cross-channel condescension guaranteed to set many teeth on edge.
So if there’s one outcome to this sorry matter, and the seemingly inevitable impact on Paul Gilligan’s suspension, it will hopefully be a moratorium on such condescension. Racing administration cock-ups are clearly an international phenomenon.
And finally, if there’s another area as eye-wateringly complex and unpredictable as the legal game, then it’s surely the planning one, something that might be troubling more than a few involved in the €65 million Curragh redevelopment since among the submissions to Kildare County Council on the back of February’s planning application is one from Mr Percy Podger.
As part of the Friends of the Curragh Environment group, Mr Podger had the last proposed Curragh redevelopment going through hoops for a significant length of time before the global recession finally knocked the project on the head. And the local farmer’s complaint against the new plan opens in colourful style, a la Chubby Checker.
“Here we go again — let’s do the twist again like we did last year, round and round and up and down. Let’s do the twist again, like we did last summer — Planning time is here!”
Another submission form Three Pillars Network outlines concerns about the development being contrary to proper planning and sustainable development in the area, maintains the application doesn’t fulfil European Law requirements and proceeds to outline issues in relation to the use of grassland for parking and a potential impact on wildlife, including three species of Pipistrelle bats.
Whatever your take on the issue, this could contain ingredients to put a drag on the Curragh Racecourse Ltd’s planning application, maybe even enough to impact on the proposed 2018 finishing date and leaving a lot of people Twistin’.
