Jockeys before QIPCO Champion Stakes© Photo Healy Racing
As is the way of such things there will be reviews of ‘Longines Irish Champions Weekend’ which will include microscopic examination of the little details we are always assured are vital to the make- up of every major sporting, and indeed corporate, event. No doubt there will be bullet-points aplenty. So while as a rule ‘Top Ten’ presentations really should be bulleted, here are some random shots at the weekend action.
1: Long ago I can remember Victoria Racing Club officials silently hugging themselves in delight at Vintage Crop’s epic Melbourne Cup success. It was silent because they could hardly be seen to relish the foreigners’ success. But for the long-term good of the race that stops a nation it was vital to see the visitor win.
It’s hardly comparing like with like, but it had been 25 years since the French had last won the Irish Champion Stakes and for the long-term health of ‘Champions Weekend’ Almanzor’s victory will have had officials here jumping up and down with happiness — just on the quiet.
2: Continuing on that theme, Leopardstown’s chief executive Pat Keogh has already expressed his belief that it’s only a matter of time before a top Japanese runner will be attracted to the Champion Stakes. It’s hardly an off-the-wall ambition.
The Japanese have made a habit of winning the Prix Niel. Makhahiki did the same yesterday. If the Arc represents the ultimate Japanese ambition it’s hardly a big leap for one of their major stars to prepare in a major European Group 1 - and the prestige that comes with it - rather than a glorified home trial which disguises as much as reveals.
3: Most sports events build towards a climax so it makes no sense for the Irish Champion Stakes to be on Day 1. There’s no reason why the Curragh and Leopardstown can’t ‘flip-flop’ days. All it requires is a little political will. And it would be a ‘win-win’ all round.
The nature of the Curragh’s Group 1 juvenile races is that the horses involved are comparatively unknown. And even if the Leger hadn’t cut up so dismally this time, it’s hard to see it ever managing to compete with the Champion Stakes in terms of pulling power.
Putting the Curragh first would make it a wonderful aperitif rather than representing, through little fault of its own, something of a re-heat. The Champion Stakes is the weekend’s focus so put it at the top of the menu, building the sense of anticipation towards it.
4: There’s no need to keep pushing the point that everything about the weekend is wonderful, perfect, best in the world, brilliant: on Saturday in particular it was relentless, and complete with ‘slebs’ too. No one, it seemed, was exempt from having to partake in the hard-sell. And all it did was make everyone sound insecure. If it’s so good it doesn’t need a droning, chippy soundtrack.
5: The 16 weekend races were won by 14 different trainers. Dermot Weld and Aidan O’Brien each won twice. That’s a remarkable spread. It leads one to wonder if a similar spread would be likely at any of the top National Hunt festivals. And only a single favourite won too.
6: Leopardstown reported an attendance of 14,550. That’s compared to 13,750 last year and 13,160 in 2014. The Curragh dipped by over a thousand to 9,255. It means an increase of just over 600 on last year’s ‘Champions Weekend’ aggregate.
Leopardstown will feel good about the upward slant of their figures but while crowd tallies are just one, and imprecise, measure, there’s no escaping how almost 30,000 are expected to cram into Listowel for Ladies Day alone on Friday.
In fact considering the suggestion that owners in the country could avail of discounted ‘Champions Weekend’ tickets, it’s reasonable to ponder the relevance of some of these figures. Would a better gauge be revenue rather than tickets? Or is that to lower the tone?
7: It wasn’t a good weekend for the Doncaster Leger. Ladbrokes are leaving. But it got quite a kick in the kudos before that when either Coolmore or Ryan Moore, or both, decided it wasn’t worth the wick chancing a quick trip across the Irish Sea in order to ride Idaho. Instead Moore concentrated on the Matron. And with Seamus Heffernan’s dramatic unshipping it worked out for them.
Moore though only needs the Leger to complete his English classic CV. You’d think that would have meant something, especially with the prospect of an odds-on favourite to look forward to. But he wasn’t having a bit of it.
8: Speaking of which, might it be a constructive future move to shift the Matron back half an hour and have it back on to the Champion Stakes in order to theoretically allow a rider do the double-stint, in the interests of international detente and all that.
9: Maybe it’s harsh to suspect a Derby runner up of canine tendencies but there are many out there who now wouldn’t back US Army Ranger with bad money. The fact he lined up in a Group 3 rather than the Champion said plenty. His performance said just as much.
Moore got stick for sitting quiet early in the straight but it may be he got as close to winning as he could, given the enigmatic material he was working with. As for Bondi Beach behind him, that looked a bonzer Melbourne Cup warm-up, certainly a lot more encouraging than Order Of St George’s Irish Leger flop.
10: That family finish to the Moyglare could be a glimpse of the future. Momentum is a powerful agent in racing and Joseph O’Brien has it in spades. As with his brother Donnacha, there are probably quite a few in the jockeys-room blessing the genetic quirks that have made both young men the wrong shape for long-term careers in the saddle.
