Harzand winning at Epsom© Photo Healy Racing
Never thought I’d quote Eminem but time does indeed pass and things do usually change. A couple of years after dire predictions of Irish Derby doom on the back of another Aidan O’Brien clean-sweep led by Australia at 1-8 comes a potentially enthralling and competitive renewal of Ireland’s premier classic. And there’s a notably boosted €1.5 million prize-fund too, which indicates how time does pass but some things don’t change, such as racing’s ferocious focus on prizemoney.
The Derby pot has been boosted by €250,000 since last year. That’s a considerable hike. Does anyone believe it will swing anyone’s decision in terms of running on Saturday?
Inducements such as the ones offered under the ‘Win and You’re In Scheme’ launched last year make some sense. Bigger fields are to be encouraged too although hardly just for the sake of it. But the argument in favour of such a hike boil down to prestige and keeping Ireland’s most valuable race competitive - except with what?
It’s hardly Epsom which carries unique status. And it’s hardly in competition with the Prix du Jockey Club. The drop back to ten furlongs has altered the nature of the French Derby to the extent that the Irish Derby’s real French competition is essentially the Grand Prix de Paris run on Bastille Day in mid-July.
This year the Grand Prix de Paris prizefund is €600,000 and it’s hard not to suspect that prizemoney will be as largely superfluous a factor for those seriously aiming at its Group 1 glory and status as it will be for the vast majority of owners targeting the Curragh this weekend.
That seems to be the thinking behind Wings Of Desire skipping the Curragh and waiting for Paris, even though he qualified twice for the Irish Derby. Red Verdon didn’t qualify at all yet he could still be supplemented into the Curragh classic at a cost of €100,000. These are not the sort of actions dictated by a couple of hundred grand here or there.
Substantially less prizemoney is on offer for the Guineas races, be it in Ireland, Britain or France, and it has no impact on their competitiveness. The same can be said of most classics or Group 1 races. It seems this €250,000 Derby boost is largely an exercise in optics, one that will be no doubt welcomed by all involved in pursuing it but is nevertheless largely irrelevant in comparison to some of the areas in which €250,000 could make a very significant difference indeed.
Should Harzand bid to become the 18th colt to complete the Epsom-Curragh double it will set up a fascinating clash with hopefully more than a Ballydoyle battalion, and kick the Irish Derby’s competitive can even further down the road. No dominance, no matter how overwhelming it seems, lasts forever.
Given flat racing’s tiny ownership elite the lack of influence exerted by Godolphin over the last number of years has had a considerable impact on top-level competition. So it was significant that they enjoyed a successful Royal Ascot and have generally been a much more significant player in 2016.
No doubt there are a series of reasons for that although the most obvious change has been the appointment of John Ferguson to oversee the operation as well as an even greater tendency to acquire talent and then leave it with those trainers who’ve nurtured it. That has any number of ripple effects and there are those who will tell you one significant ripple is a disinclination by the Godolphin boss, Sheikh Mohammed, to get involved in day-to-day operations. Maybe that’s a little mischief-making by some but the proof of the pudding is in the eating!
However they have a long way to go to compete on any sort of equal footing with Coolmore/Ballydoyle as Aidan O’Brien enjoyed seven winners among a record breaking ten Irish trained Royal Ascot victories. It was a remarkable haul that might have been even better given a number of near misses, the most significant of which had to be The Gurkha.
A St James’s Palace Stakes winning son of Galileo would have looked good on the brochure and there’s always an annoying sense of ‘what if’ about a horse having to be switched and then finishing fast.
Ryan Moore has got quite a bit of flak for his ride and there’s no doubt he is employed to eliminate those ‘what ifs’ when it really counts. But in an environment where ‘tactical speed’ is always a buzzword, it looked like The Gurkha got tapped for just that at a crucial moment. The optics always favour a fast-finisher. But those anticipating the Ballydoyle colt will be short odds to reverse places with Galileo Gold next time could be presumptuous.
And finally, there’s always a suspicion that officials like to be seen to get tough with those they don’t have to deal with on a day to day basis. It’s a very human thing, something not unknown about hacks too: there’s nothing like a convenient overseas visitor for some well-rehearsed vitriol at a ride that would earn little more than some “unfortunate” cliché for a home based jock.
Nevertheless, if reports about William Buick pointing to the Chantilly stewards and declaring them “corrupt” after Sunday’s French Oaks enquiry are correct, then it’s hard to think what else the French official were to do with the visitor except invite him to both apologise and take a lengthy holiday.
Buick has indicated the possibility of an appeal. If he was dealing with Ireland’s appeals system, he might get vindication, an apology, maybe even an offer to pay for his flights. It’s hard to see affronted Frenchmen being so accommodating.
