New Bay winning the French Derby© Photo Healy Racing
Coolmore showed commendable restraint in their reaction to losing the Doncaster St Leger at the BHA appeal. Aidan O'Brien and Colm O'Donoghue seemed determined to draw a line through the affair, repeatedly employing a 'that's racing' approach that made more than one observer ponder whether or not such sang-froid would have been employed if the Group 1 prize was a Guineas or a Derby and not the sadly dishevelled Leger.
As for the detail of the case itself, that really is racing. By the rules the BHA appeal decision to give Simple Verse back the race can be justified. And that really is racing, both in Britain and to a considerable extent in Ireland too. The rules are nuts yet everyone is content to shrug their shoulders and carry on. It's been carrying on for a long time but what's different is the Leger call has wrapped it in an official coat of precedent.
Before, everyone knew the score and nodded and winked. But British racing has now rubber-stamped a riding culture where jockeys not only pull reckless manouveres, but are effectively encouraged to do so- as long as they're on the best horse, mind you. Of course there'll be slaps on the wrist in terms of suspensions but the cop out action of penalising the jockey and not the horse will continue, probably until something dreadful happens.
That's not being alarmist or sensationalist or any other 'ist' you care to mention. It's simply an acknowledgement of a riding culture which had Andrea Atzeni deliberately cannoning into a rival at close to 40mph in order to get a clear run. And it's hard to be too critical of the Italian's dangerous move since if he hadn't, his employer would have been well within his rights to wonder why he damn well hadn't.
That is racing in these islands now - win at all costs. And any jockey unwilling to play ball can whistle. A culture has been created where any amount of accidently-on-purpose hanging, swerving and brute-force barging is fair game. The Simple Verse decision has effectively formalised it. The message is loud and clear and jockeys have no option but to hear it clearer than anyone.
A dangerous occupation is even more dangerous on the back of this call. And there's no point traditionalists going down any 'in my day' avenue. What Atzeni did wasn't jockeyship. It was brute force. Jockeyship was what Colm O'Donoghue originally exercised to put his rival in a pocket. Atzeni's calculated reaction was to foul and his subsequent tears at Doncaster indicated the shock of being actually pulled on it.
So that is racing, a free-for-all when the stakes are sufficiently high enough to make breaking the rules worthwhile.
Thus we have the farce of Storm The Stars carrying Bondi Beach across the track in the Voltigeur, Elusive Kate doing the same to Sky Lantern, Lord Windermere to On His Own, fill in the rest of the list yourself: all of it rooted in an obsession with favouring the best horse which is a cop-out from making the hard call of actually disqualifying the best horse sometimes because being the best isn't supposed to make anyone immune from the rules.
Jockeys shouldn't be put in this position, where taking one for the team is part of the job description. They are riding to the culture that has been created. The answer is to change a culture where riders have been hung out to dry by a rulebook which believes penalising a jockey is sufficient deterrent to not break the rules. It quite obviously isn't.
Jockeys ride to the rules that are applied. The idea that Irish riders might be unable to adapt to a different set of rules to the present ones is ludicrous. There might be uncertainty for a fortnight and then everything would settle down to a system where clean riding might not only be desirable but actually required.
What those rules should be is one of the most important debates racing should be having but isn't. Plenty believe the French rules are too strict. Others believe they at least bring clarity. They certainly aren't perfect. But if they are too strict it is surely preferable to the everyday reality of some of the riding in these islands which will probably get more and more reckless until something disastrous happens and minds finally start to properly focus on finding a workable solution.
Those French rules will be on show this weekend for an Arc extravaganza that could see Treve carve out a singular place in racing history for herself. She's already a true great: an Arc hat-trick though would be unprecedented. On soft ground, few would be in any rush to lay her even at a shade of odds-on. If conditions are quick, it's a very different story: the memory of that Royal Ascot flop last year where she moved like a crab on a fast surface hasn't faded. Yet again, a top race looks set to revolve around the weather - so plus ca change there.
Given the happy medium of good ground, wading into Treve at short odds might be dangerous given the potential level of competiton. Flintshire was good enough to chase her home in 2014. Golden Horn and New Bay look a different kettle of fish.
Golden Horn will graduate to great status himself should he add the Arc to the Derby, not to mention the Eclipse and Irish Champion Stakes. But it's a big ask to maintain form through to October, and he may even have to improve again to win. New Bay will have to improve too but who's to say he won't. He ticks so many boxes, not least of which is the Andre Fabre factor. Treve is great but Fabre is the Arc legend. And you get the sense New Bay is fancied to become his eighth winner.
