Half-Full Or Half-Empty

Maybe it’s a glass half-full or half-empty deal but with the ammunition at his disposal for ‘Champions Weekend’ the ultimate verdict on Irish racing’s new E3.7 million shop-window initiative could come down to how a possible Aidan O’Brien beano this weekend is perceived: is it a good thing, or a bad thing, a neat unifying narrative thread through the two days, or just more evidence of overwhelming Coolmore dominance?

It’s hardly an academic exercise to ponder whether or not O’Brien can train all five Group 1 winners at Leopardstown and the Curragh. Australia and Leading Light are already odds on. Gleneagles looks a strong-favourite for the National Stakes. Tapestry is disputing favouritism for the Matron. And although Cursory Glance tops the Moyglare betting, who knows what the champion trainer has on his hands in Found who is likely to be added to the race after her surprise but impressive maiden win.

In 2010 and 2011 O’Brien won three of those five Group 1’s when they were spaced out over weeks. Now that they’re crammed into the one weekend, the chances of the in-form stable sweeping all before it could be increased. One of the bookmaking firms certainly thinks so and last week went just 16-1 about a Ballydoyle clean-sweep during two days when industry bigwigs want the outside world to see the game here in all its competitive finery.

Coming on the back of well-publicised competition fears about Coolmore’s overwhelming Irish Derby dominance, is the possibility of an O’Brien benefit - and it’s hardly the most outrageous speculation to ponder such a possibility - really to the long-term benefit of a ‘Champions Weekend’ concept which is primarily in place to increase Irish racing’s profile on an international stage, an international stage which, rightly or wrongly, often perceives this country as simply Coolmore’s backyard.

O’Brien’s job has nothing to do with such perceptions. His task is simply to do the best he possibly can for his owners. The idea that he might not go all out to win such valuable prizes is ridiculous. But while Ballydoyle’s continuing excellence can only be admired, even if it is begrudgingly at times by some, surely those in charge of selling the ‘Champions Weekend’ concept could be forgiven for fearing its first renewal turns into a Ballydoyle-benefit.

Rightly or wrongly such an outcome would entrench some prejudices even further. Suggestions that such a massive prize-fund could be spread out to greater benefit throughout the industry would almost be inevitable. No doubt the ‘m’ word that Coolmore bods detest so much – monopoly - would get flung around, yet again. And after due professional acknowledgement of the achievement involved in winning any Group 1, never mind more than one, shoulders would be shrugged in terms of storyline headlines which, like it or not, are at least part of the deal here.

Then again, maybe that’s too pessimistic. Maybe there will be widespread satisfaction at watching continuing excellence from an Irish operation. And maybe it doesn’t matter who the connections are: it is amazing how irrelevant it can be to punters what colours are carried by the winner they’ve backed. And maybe, just maybe, any suggestion the whole thing can be as easy as siding with one outfit will turn out to be hopelessly simplistic.

Still there will be more hopeless 16-1 shots floating about this weekend.

It was interesting to see the E200,000 promotion costs involved in ‘Champions Weekend’ outlined by the two tracks and Horse Racing Ireland, and a salutary reminder to those of us involved in the media side of things that just twenty five grand of that budget is for print advertising while the event’s website cost fifty grand alone.

There is a three-stage plan to the promotion, the last of which is the final rush of advertising aimed at getting footfall through the gates this week, and the first of which was a concentrated push on the British market, starting six months ago. The middle leg though was apparently aimed at getting those within the racing industry to get up off their backsides and supporting the new event, with plenty of pre-sales expected from major industry players, which invariably involves Coolmore.

One wag, upon hearing this, harked back to the tumultuous days of 2001 and Charlie McCreevy’s amalgamation offer in return for state money which prompted a march on the Curragh against the Turf Club’s refusal to fully play ball with the financial gift-horse. Such were the numbers on view there were mischievous suggestions of a correlation between that and the numbers of Coolmore horseboxes parked outside the stands: disgraceful suggestions no doubt, but still, there’s a lot riding on ‘Champions Weekend’ being seen to be a success.

Ultimately though, it’s the great weather uncontrollable that will determine so much in terms of atmosphere, image and final attendance figures. It must be intensely frustrating for racecourse authorities to deal with such a reality but it’s a reality nonetheless. After all the planning and organisation and expense it really does come down to ‘fingers crossed’ it stays dry.

At the opposite end of the quality scale was last week’s controversial Saint Helena victory at Southwell which is the subject of a BHA review and which seems to have exercised a lot of minds in terms of jockey arrangements which eventually wound up with Tony McCoy on board the winner after his originally scheduled mount, Saint Helena’s stable companion, was taken out.

But really it all boils down to trainer Jim Best’s succinct post-race comment – “We did it all by the book.” Which technically looks to be completely correct, and a good summary of how a racing calendar dominated by low-grade handicaps can only be expected to be exploited by those hoping to make a few quid out of a moderate horse.