Dermot Weld and the Aga Khan© Photo Healy Racing
Harzand proved himself a worthy champion by completing the Epsom-Curragh Derby double. There’s nothing flamboyant about him, nothing flash, but after looking Idaho in the eye inside the final furlong Harzand was well on top at the line. This is a colt full of substance and with the priceless ability of being able to rise to the occasion. His partnership with Pat Smullen looks a marriage made in heaven.
Although cheerleading isn’t this space’s function, having noted over the years the baffling failure of major cross-channel trainers to employ Ireland’s champion jockey on the big occasion when his services are not required by Dermot Weld there is a rare opportunity to crow now that Smullen appears on the verge of enjoying that elite ‘best of both worlds’ role.
Mick Kinane patented it in the 1990’s, enjoying domestic dominance while going overseas for lucrative ‘super-sub’ employment in Europe’s top races. Johnny Murtagh followed in his footsteps. Now Smullen looks set to do the same. It’s the best of company and the Offaly man will be a worthy addition. And it’s reassuring because it’s a case of class finally winning out.
Smullen is 39 now and readily concedes he’s doing nothing different in terms of his riding. What’s been different in recent years is a boost in the overall quality of Dermot Weld’s string. Juddmonte have been a major element in that with the happy boost for Smullen of a link-up with Khalid Abdullah’s empire in Britain.
It is the Aga Khan who has provided the cherry on top this year in Harzand. There is no better advertisement than a dual-Derby winner and his jockey acknowledges with typical level-headedness that fashion is all-important in racing. Success really does breed success. But Smullen deserves every plaudit and reward for his consistent excellence.
Success is also slutty. The successful are rarely short of company and that company is often retrospectively prepared to impose a logic and inevitability on what happens on the racecourse. For instance Harzand’s rise to superstar status is being widely lauded as the result of the Aga Khan’s link-up with Weld and vindication of the owner’s decision to sever links with John Oxx.
It’s neat, convenient and rubbish. Every trainer will admit they can only work with the raw material they get. Weld has proven over decades he is a master of his profession. Oxx is also an outstanding trainer. That his fortunes have slumped in recent years is evidence merely of the material he has had to work with.
That Weld’s have improved due to the influx of the Aga Khan’s string is no coincidence but it is delusional to think Oxx couldn’t have secured similar results with them. The Aga Khan is breeding better stock for his trainers to work with compared to some years ago. The evidence of that is on the racecourse but that upsurge is a recent phenomenon. Don’t forget Harzand is the first Group 1 winner Weld has trained for him.
Winners get forgiven everything but the Aga’s decision to take horses out of Oxx’s yard completely remains a notably graceless call.
None of which has anything to do with Weld who is enjoying a vintage season that could yet wind up with Harzand filling another notable gap in the legendary trainer’s CV. If the Epsom Derby is European racing’s defining classic, its other benchmark race is the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. It’s a long way away but the prospect of such a fast improving three year old enjoying a classic French style preparation for a race on easy October ground is an enticing one. And there’s something about Harzand’s resolve that will make every other opponent wary of him at Longchamp.
What he did at the Curragh, recovering to such effect in just three weeks from a notably hard experience at Epsom, shouldn’t be underestimated: nor should the disappointing 18,244 crowd that watched Harzand do it be straight-forwardly ascribed to Euro 2016.
That 18,244 is a dramatic dip of over 7,000 from last year and it’s not like Ireland’s game against France was on the same day.
The Monaghan-Donegal GAA clash on Saturday hardly smacked of natural Curragh competition. The weather was fine compared to some years when conditions have been unpleasant. So a 28 per cent slump in attendance is alarming especially since quite a lot of the €65 million Curragh redevelopment momentum revolves around catering properly for major Group 1 crowds.
The news that Kildare County Council will confirm they are granting planning permission for the Curragh redevelopment this week will be welcome for all stakeholders and no surprise to anyone. What will be interesting now is how the sometimes tortuous process unfolds in terms of objections. The Curragh authorities do have the plus that planning has been granted ahead of schedule.
Finally, on a political level the Brexit result was very dispiriting, a throwback pine for days that are long gone which contains some deeply unsettling resonances. Economically the scale of any impact on racing here remains to be seen although intrinsic cross-channel and cross-border links mean there will inevitably be some.
In the immediate term, the weakness of Sterling is just what sales companies and vendor don’t want. In the longer term there is likely to be greater amounts of administrative red-tape floating around for the transport of horses between the two jurisdictions. Ultimately though ways will be found to cope with such stuff and the horse game will continue as per normal.
However there is clearly a lot more to Brexit than just economics, something that is being noted throughout Europe. It will be the same inside racing’s little village too.
