Pat Smullen had to wait until the last day of the Flat season to clinch his second Jockey's title. Going into Sunday's Leopardstown finale the champion held a healthy five-win lead over his only remaining challenger Michael Kinane.
With Kinane booked to ride in seven of the eight races on the card, including three likely favourites, the championship remained somewhat in the balance. Smullen also had a decent book of rides and he quickly extended his advantage to six when he came out on the right side of a short-head verdict in the opener aboard newcomer Sun Seasons. Kinane hit back with wins in races three, five and six, but Smullen was gone beyond recall.
Smullen won't have much time to rest on his laurels as he gets married next Tuesday to trainer Francis Crowley and a couple of days later heads to Dubai for the Winter.
Calladine's victory in the Tote sponsored Leopardstown November handicap was an extraordinary performance. Christy Roche's stable was under a cloud with many of his horses suffering from a virus and Calladine was his first runner in over two weeks.
To say Calladine won by nine lengths does not do the performance justice. His rider was pulling up from fully a furlong out. Ridden out to the line he may have won a distance. This was a Premier Handicap worth #50,000 and you could hardly have said beforehand that he was unexposed. He has now won five of his last six handicap starts.
Leopardstown patrons were also witness to a rare treat when Charles O'Brien introduced a newcomer called Silver Mystique. The American bred two-year-old is white. I know plenty of grey horses look white, but this filly is classified as white and when you see her you immediately know why. She is an albino and her eyes are even pink. She did not run well, but as she was making her debut in a Listed contest she must be showing something at home and hopefully will be kept in training for next year.
The James Nicholson Wine Merchant Champion Chase at Down Royal on Saturday provided proof once and for all that Florida Pearl does not stay a yard over three miles. He is a class horse and has won almost #600,000 in prize-money, but in a true-run race this trip is beyond him.
Florida Pearl has a high cruising speed and jumps very well and I think he deserves a crack at the Queen Mother Champion Chase over two miles. He will be ten come Cheltenham next March and it is a bit late in the day to switch to a new career, but it's better late than never.
Handicapper Noel O'Brien presented the connections of Limestone Lad with an early Christmas gift at Naas on Saturday. The gelding was dropped a generous 7LB following defeat at Navan on his previous start and topped the weights for the Woodlands Park 100 Brown Lad Handicap Hurdle off a rating of 149.
At his peak, Limestone Lad reached a figure of 167 and the handicapper's assessment that he was an 18LB inferior horse going into the Naas race proved somewhat wide of the mark. Limestone Ladmade all to win comfortably by six lengths. This was the twenty-fifth win of his career and the seventh achieved at Naas.
The contrast between the popularity for Flat and Jump racing was very evident at Thurles this week. The two-day fixture was an all-flat affair on the Wednesday and confined to National Hunt on Thursday. Both cards were of a similar standard, but the attendances were in stark contrast. There wasn't a sinner present on the Wednesday (well maybe that is not quite accurate), but Thursday, despite being the coldest day of the year, attracted an average crowd (two-men-and-a-dog). Unfortunately the dog caught Pneumonia.
Midweek meetings are an industry necessity, but for obvious reasons are given a wide berth by the majority of racegoers. The average age of the clientele is in or around sixty and many feel that it is only a matter of time before this customer base dries up. The Horseracing Authority's marketing wing spends much time and money trying to attract a younger audience, but this is a futile exercise as far as midweek racing is concerned.
The young crave excitement. They want their kicks to come fast and everything must be sexy. Three-mile mares only maiden hurdles in bottomless ground at a rain soaked Clonmel do not exactly fit the bill.
So we now come back to the pensioners. They are the fastest growing sector in society and have increased spending power. They are available when the rest of the population is at work and are not swayed by bright lights. They and not the young can be racing's future and should be wooed accordingly.
Apprentice rider Jane Mulqueen must feel that there is a conspiracy against her. First she wins the Derrinstown Apprentice Series and is presented with a prize which includes a mouth-watering three month all expenses paid trip to Dubai, but before she can pack the sun cream she learns that there was a cock-up and the Champion Apprentice gets the holiday.
Then on the final day of the season she got the rare opportunity to partner a fancied runner in a Listed race at Leopardstown. She hit the front aboard Saying Grace turning for home and appeared (on the TV screens at least) to hold on in the dying strides for her biggest career win. Unfortunately the photo finish did not go her way and to add insult to injury the stewards deemed that she had committed a whip offence.
