Action from Galway© Photo Healy Racing
To paraphrase Bono racing has to go away and dream its disciplinary process up again because it isn’t working. Pyromaniac’s Galway Hurdle appearance was a slap in the face to the authority of the integrity services here. If the Turf Club was spared the indignity of a horse technically suspended winning Ireland’s richest jumps race it didn’t prevent the ever increasing perception that racing can’t make its penalties stick. And credibility wise, that is unsustainable.
The current day to day reality is that even minor infringements of the rules are routinely appealed to a Referrals Committee which isn’t a legal forum but often has to operate to burden-of-proof standards because it knows the decisions it takes can be open to examination in the courts.
Another reality is that such a burden-of-proof is all but impossible in something as subjective and vague as running-and-riding enquiries and another again is that the court system doesn’t run on racing’s clock. A judicial hearing on the Pyromaniac case is not expected until October when all the legal pyrotechnics surrounding the horse’s Galway appearance will be just a vague memory.
The net impact continues to be a culture where racecourse stewards make decisions that often get passed up through a system which statistically offers a better then evens chance of either getting a penalty squashed or reduced, and if there’s no joy there, then a legal route is open to those who can afford it which, given the economic circumstances of many who choose to indulge in the thoroughbred game, is often not an issue.
Many might argue that has always been racing’s political reality and that things technically appeared better in the good old days simply because racecourse stewards knew when it was politic to hold their binoculars back to front. But that was then and this is now and blaming the binoculars isn’t good enough anymore when anyone from Melbourne to Mullingar can see what’s happening on their phone.
Continuing government subsidy can make ambitions towards making racing self-financing through turnover tax on a global digital market sound very aspirational indeed. It also contributes to a certain ‘let them eat cake attitude’ about protecting the interests of punters even in the face of declining on-course betting and a rapidly rising Tote pool market.
The ambition is to encourage turnover and being seen to take integrity some way seriously has to be part of that.
The problem is Irish racing’s fundamental disconnect from the interest of punters who often perceive the sport here to be less than straight when compared to other jurisdictions. The reality is that it’s no more bent than in Britain for instance, no matter what some of the more smug cross-channel commentariat might think. But perception matters, something that has to be acknowledged in any review the Turf Club carries out.
For instance, adding just two words to Rule 212 might help - “The rider of every horse shall BE SEEN to take all reasonable and permissible measures throughout the race to ensure that his horse is given a full opportunity to win or of obtaining the best possible place.”
That’s one little thing that could be considered. It would put an onus on jockeys to at least go through the motions to some extent, maybe even deflect the relevance of new post-race information too. It might also go at least some little way towards assuring punters that their role isn’t merely to pony up, applaud on cue and get showered upon outside the tent. But it is just one possible little move in a process that requires much more.
How the Turf Club ultimately chooses to pick its way through what has turned into a fraught, complex and expensive legal minefield will have ramifications for a long time to come.
Squaring the circle between reclaiming the credibility of the rules of racing while respecting every individual’s civil rights appears nigh on impossible. But it is in racing’s self-interest to do its utmost to at least try and close the gap, and be seen to do so, because right now it all looks bad.
Footballers don’t always go into tribunals armed to the legal teeth for one or two match bans. Rare however is even the most trivial racing appeal these days that doesn’t see solicitors facing off. It has turned integrity into a legal slalom and as everyone knows, what’s law got to do with justice?
In comparison other elements that go towards helping punters feel like they’re valued are straight-forward, like doing them the courtesy of showing the bleedin’ obvious if they’ve gone to the trouble of actually going racing.
After Scamall Dubh sprang a 66-1 shock in a Beginners Chase at Galway on Thursday, a steward’s enquiry was immediately called. The runner up was the favourite Marinero. The outcome was presumably of some relevance to a lot of people. So the obvious thing to do was look at the head-on, except there wasn’t one provided. Instead we got two full re-runs of the race before the ‘winner alright’ was called. That’s simply not good enough.
It was always going to take something exceptional to end Dermot Weld’s long reign as the ‘King Of Ballybrit’ and Willie Mullins provided it. The champion jumps trainer’s strike rate is rarely less than impressive. But sending out 17 horses to contest 15 races and win nine at one of the most keenly contested festivals of the year is extraordinary.
Rain on Tuesday was blamed for an ultimate 1,169 dip on last year’s total festival crowd although bemoaning rain in the west of Ireland strikes as a pretty futile exercise. The final attendance over the seven days was 138,945 which everyone seemed reasonably satisfied about, which in turn only shows how things have changed in the decade since well over 200,000 attended.
The figure that racing’s authorities as a whole might consider most however is the significant increase in Tote betting last week. It was only €1.2 behind on-course bookmaker betting which was once Irish racing’s cash-cow. It’s a bit early to bet on Galway 2017, but what price the Tote outstripping the bookies next year?
