Brian Toomey© Photo Healy Racing
Although racing's administration mightn't be dysfunctional its players have hardly been working seamlessly together either. Interest groups resolutely fight their own corners and relations between Horse Racing Ireland and the Turf Club continue to be mired in mutual suspicion. The blame game is being played big-time. But the chain of command means the buck ultimately stops at Simon Coveney's desk. That's the fate of those in charge.
That doesn't mean it is fair but since politicians are hardly noted for reticence in claiming credit for successful stuff they sign off on, the Minister for Agriculture, Food, Marine & Defence can hardly crib about having to carry the can when things do go wrong. That's the fate of those with enough clout to sign on the dotted line and make things happen.
In many ways, and for many professionals within racing, Coveney has been a model Minister since taking on the horsey gig in 2011. The man who controls the purse-strings held the line financially at the start, made all the right noises when it came to the value foreign trade and prestige, and now that the economy is apparently lifting out of the tank, government subsidy to racing is rising again.
A Fine Gael Minister was always likely to be an enthusiast for the trickle-down economic model on which the industry's finances are based so racing's state revenue stream is open and flowing. No doubt the Minister is often reminded of what a great financial job he is doing, especially with the Betting Amendment Bill finally signed in.
Where Coveney was different however was in the reforming zeal with which he originally approached an area he admitted to knowing little about: an opportunity, he said, for a fresh face to take a fresh look, and there's no doubt he talked the talk in terms of shaking up how a rigidly conservative industry is run.
Racing's administration was going to be made as efficient and effective as possible. The talk sounded good. One notable trainer recently bemoaned to this corner though how subsequent substance has hardly matched the style. The guy who holds the purse-strings is able to loosen and tighten those strings according to his political will and whatever about finance, there appears to have been little will to meaningfully shake up how racing is administered.
The much-touted Endecon report amounted to little more than a re-heat of old positions, a stomp around old ground, and a lot of hot air about not very much at all.
The steroids controversy was clearly a disaster for racing but for a Minister anxious to shape things beyond the provision of state money, it presented a potential opportunity to help radically overhaul how the industry policies itself - maybe even empowering officials to raid yards without being babysat by the Department - in circumstances where any opposition would have lacked credibility.
It didn't happen, the opportunity has passed, and there appears little official nostalgia for its absence.
Since so much of successful politics has become about avoiding being seen to make decisions of any kind, especially difficult ones, maybe it was wishful thinking to believe a new Minister's appointment presented an opportunity for a meaningful change. Instead political will appears directed on maintaining a firm 'steady-as-she-goes' course.
Instead of big-picture change we've had prissy tinkering to accounting practises that look innocuous to the outsider but which somehow have contrived to inspire bitter division amongst HRI and the Turf Club. Both sides can be said to be partial to taking offence anyway but such squabbling hardly reflects well on the government and deep resentments have been allowed to fester.
Thus we've had own-goals such as appearing to fight over finance in order to improve drug testing just after one of the worst doping scandals in modern times, not to mention scrapping to such an extent over how money winds up at the regulatory coal-face that the famously conservative Turf Club continues to threaten legal action against any proposed legislation which it perceives to dilute its independence. That's a lot of fall-out for the sake of comparatively minor accounting procedures.
Would it have been beyond a real reformer's wit to demand a realistic division between the promotion and policing arms? Insisting that in return for public money a modern, professional, effective and properly resourced integrity service with the highest standards that the betting public can trust be encouraged and embraced rather than tolerated? Maybe even that the various arms actually cooperate rather than fight?
Minister Coveney still possesses the trump card - the money. What he doesn't appear to possess is a willingness to invest some of the political clout it gives him in identifying coherent and effective structural reforms and getting all sides on board. Rarely does the guy paying the piper not get to call the tune: the Minister originally called a reform tune but, regrettably, dividends on his radical intentions appear to be mostly underwhelming.
Things can change however. Just over a month ago, the 2015 crop of three year old colts were written off as ordinary in the extreme, so bad that they were ripe for plucking by the fillies. Now Golden Horn is acclaimed, and justifiably, as an outstanding horse with form-lines galore backing up the visual evidence.
Muhaarar has emerged as a top sprinter and Territories' Prix Jean Prat victory backed up the merit of Gleneagles' Guineas in form terms at the weekend. It will be intriguing to see how Storm The Stars, third at Epson and runner up in the Curragh Derby, fares in the Grand Prix de Paris.
But there's no doubt about the inspiring story to top all inspiring stories with Limerick jockey Brian Toomey completing his remarkable comeback at the weekend. That his odds-on mount got beaten was for once irrelevant: this was an immense victory.
