Horses schooling after racing at Leopardstown© Photo Healy Racing
Since the government is pumping E54.5 million of state money into Ireland's thoroughbred industry this year it is curious how that industry can sometimes seem so ambivalent to the public nature of this vital subsidy, appearing to possess a 'give-us-the-money and let-us-get-on-with-it' attitude which doesn't sit right sometimes.
Even a simple little thing like Leopardstown's post-race gallops at the weekend is illustrative of an attitude of mind capable of treating the public as a little more than an inconvenience, good for betting money and applauding on cue, but little else. Previous attempts to turn these workouts into a proper attraction on the run up to Cheltenham - with horses indentified over the PA to facilitate onlookers in the stands and possibly actually encourage more fans through the gates with advertising - fizzled out over time, for a number of reasons, including the track contrarily offering schooling opportunities later in the week when the stands were empty.
Maybe that made it inevitable trainers as a whole became less inclined to gallop their big hopes after racing, some of them apparently feeling pressurised by the attention, but others appearing to be possessed of an instinctive reflex to keep even the most innocuous information to themselves.
Either way the gallops have slipped drastically in significance in recent years and last Saturday was advertised with a discretion normally associated with STD clinics. The day before, track officials had no clue as to who or what might turn up and noticeably played the whole thing down.
As it happened those members of the public who hung around after racing were treated to the sight of workouts and schooling sessions by some of the leading Cheltenham hopes from the two leading yards in the country. This would be of some public interest at any time. Ten days before Cheltenham it was of massive significance.
The potential of these workouts to sell a relatively moderate card to a public ravenously anticipating Cheltenham is obvious and done properly they can be very useful in PR-terms, either relating to the media or, much more importantly, that often neglected 'P' in PR - the public.
Of course trainers are entitled to their preferences in terms of who they want to gallop horses in front of. It is to Willie Mullins's and Gordon Elliott's credit that they worked horses on Saturday when the opportunity to work them in private this week was in front of them. And there's an obvious question there of why a HRI track - especially with HRI's promotion brief - is facilitating that opportunity.
Surely it's not beyond those in authority to say to trainers they can use the facilities in return for having the workouts properly presented in front of a public which after all supplies the prizemoney we are constantly informed is vital to keeping the whole racing ship afloat.
If trainers and owners don't want to do that, then fair enough: let them get their schooling and workout opportunity elsewhere.
What was notable about all of it though was an absence of any substantial notion among racing professionals that the public might have wanted to know that such a significant session was actually going to happen. Or that they might even be encouraged to come along and watch.
One hesitates to use a word like obligation in these terms because it isn't correct: however neither is the public irrelevant in all of this, no matter how irritating the idea might be to some.
However that attitude remains prevalent within many parts of the Irish horse game, an attitude which makes even mostly cosmetic acknowledgements of the role of public money in it seem difficult and goes far beyond a single instance like Leopardstown at the weekend.
For instance plenty has been made in the last few years of increasing bloodstock sales as justification for government's increasing financial input. There is also much made of the need to keep Ireland's thoroughbred industry as a whole competitive against its competitors, principally the UK.
However as someone much cleverer than this space points out, attempts to generate 'Brand Ireland' collective ambition is rather undermined by truckloads of horses getting shipped to Newmarket to be sold despite there being two top international sales companies based here.
No one's suggesting anyone's doing anything wrong. After all no one's averse to a 'bit of sterling' now and again. Nothing's been breached bar maybe a certain spirit.
But it still jars that an industry so reliant on public subsidy can so easily ignore the idea that in return for subsidy there might be an obligation to keep as much of it as possible swimming around the system at home rather than in its biggest commercial rival.
The counter argument, and it's an impossible one to technically argue with, is that industry professionals have an obligation to do the best possible job for their clients and a right to do the best for themselves.
And yet there remains an industry attitude which simply doesn't feel right sometimes. It involves arguing on a basis of spirit, though, and as everyone knows, if that's all you got, you've got nothing.
The reality is that the horse industry's reflex reaction to Joe Public is usually a defensive one and it's in that context that the Turf Club's newly established information hotline must be viewed. Even potential five-figure rewards for information that leads to a conviction is unlikely to break through wagons that get tightly circled when things get sticky.
The Philip Fenton saga confirmed most cases ultimately involve somebody squawking, maybe even publicly squawking. A couple of years went by after the initial Department of Agriculture raid on Fenton's yard and there wasn't a squawk by anyone. And that's an attitude which shows no sign of changing anytime soon.
Finally there are few things more encouraging going into Cheltenham than a stable coming into form.
There are those who will tell you that even among those rated the best and shrewdest of trainers, John Kiely deserves a special mention. And with the prospect of Carlingford Lough providing the veteran handler with a career highlight in next week's Gold Cup, there can surely only be encouragement in how a comparative lull in the stable's overall fortunes has ended, including The Parishioner winning at Navan.
Things look to be coming right there at just the right time.
