Coolmore team at the Breeders Cup in 2009 © Photo Healy Racing
The 30th anniversary of Back To The Future has made a few recent headlines but it appears a case of Forward To The Past in regard to the Breeders Cup, a shop window to the world for American racing which highlights a resolutely parochial store stuffed to the brim with the same seedy baggage it had all the way back in 1984.
Keeneland will be a different location at least, a first-time host for the 32nd renewal, but it is still a track which last year tore up a synthetic surface to return to dirt. In doing so it was only following the general trend in the US despite statistical evidence that dirt racing increases injuries, hardly an insignificant factor you might think considering the spate of negative welfare coverage in recent years.
But the idea that dirt might eventually get significantly phased out - and it was no idle dream less than a decade ago - was naive considering those much wider medication issues which continue to plague American racing and which leave it a rogue jurisdiction in global bloodstock terms.
That many Europeans adopt a 'when in Rome' policy to drugs when running their horses in the US is regrettable, maybe even futile, but ultimately hardly surprising since American racing's brass are either disinclined to meaningfully change anything or are repeatedly bullied away from change by domestic racing professionals who clearly couldn't care less about how they look to the outside world.
Just three years ago in 2012 a move was made to ban the race-day administration of lasix to two year olds at the Breeders Cup. Hardly revolutionary stuff and it was expected to be extended to all Breeders Cup races in 2013. But that didn't happen and in 2014, all horses at the Breeders Cup could be given lasix. Back To The Future indeed.
Considering the recent doping controversies on this side of Pond there is always a danger of sanctimony in pointing this stuff out. But at the risk of stating the 'bleedin' obvious' it isn't institutionally systemic here. Nevertheless, the obvious response from the US is if people don't like it they can stay at home, something European trainers show no signs of doing.
Expecting otherwise is probably unrealistic. History has shown time and again that those operating at racing's resolutely conservative coalface aren't going to vote to change a system they've already mastered. So change requires real leadership, something there appears to be a chronic shortage of in US racing.
Gleneagles leads a strong Ballydoyle challenge on Keeneland and will become the 14th Aidan O'Brien trained horse to try and secure the holy-grail of the $5 million Classic. The plus for Gleneagles is his close relationship to Giants Causeway who came closer than anything to winning the race for Coolmore 15 years ago. The minuses constitute a much lengthier list.
Horses capable of showing their best on both turf and dirt are rare and some will tell you it is almost unfair to even ask them to try, a bit like asking a Rugby Union star to immediately adapt to Rugby League: the principles might be similar but in nuance the differences are huge.
Throw in travelling 4,000 miles on the back of a relatively underwhelming recent effort, not to mention racing beyond a mile for the first time, or the reality of an exceptional dirt champion in American Pharoah lying in wait, or the other overwhelming reality of a different medication culture, and Gleneagles will have to be an exceptional horse to win. He's shown himself to be top class, but is he that exceptional?
In reality the already proven exceptional Euro runner this year is Golden Horn. If he runs to form in the Turf, he wins. But it's been a frantic season already and those other factors already outlined apply to him too. The difference is the home team look out-classed.
Golden Horn has already proven himself a true champion and it would be bittersweet to see him end his career on a loss. Mind you, those who argue he's superior to that other outstanding son of Cape Cross - Sea The Stars- really should have their car keys taken off them.
Some people are being asked to cough up more than keys towards the Curragh's €55 million redevelopment plans for which will be officially unveiled on Wednesday.
Individual donors have always been part of the budget plan for HQ's facelift but the whisper is that more than the usual suspects are getting the bite put on them, and not for chicken-feed numbers either. Such individuals are no doubt playing ball for admirably philanthropic reasons but while the Turf Club's clout might be fading this could only increase a perception that one club is simply being replaced by another.
And finally the 2015 flat champions were all pretty much 'as you were' - Aidan O'Brien, Pat Smullen, Mrs John Magnier, and Connor King doing an admirable job in reclaiming the apprentice title. The final tables though also emphasise the increasing influence of both Ger Lyons and his young jockey Colin Keane. The latter was runner up to Smullen and only a final day double for Jim Bolger prevented Lyons from taking third place in the trainer's table on winners with a final tally of 60.
Considering the comparative lack of financial firepower he's playing with against his rivals, Lyons' achievement in particular, in cementing Top 5 status in Ireland, is remarkable enough to merit special mention. Lyons might not be everyone's personal cup of tea but the substance behind his continuing rise is even rarer than an admirable willingness to speak his mind.
And what could potentially allow him take things to the next level again is the growing influence of Qatar Racing. It's as true now as it ever was that trainers are only as good as the ammunition they have to fire. But Lyons has long since proved the accuracy of his aim.
