Over the coming months myself and my colleagues will look back at the talking points of the previous week`s racing and hopefully pinpoint some future winners along the way.
Last Tuesday the Turf Club opened a can of worms by expressing their concern over the proposed amalgamation between themselves, the Irish Horseracing Authority (IHA), and the Association of Irish racecourses - a union which will trigger the Government to divert the off-course bookmaker`s levy (5% of turnover) to racing.
The main lobbies within the industry were quick to condemn the Turf Club`s stance, seeing it as a simple case of looking a gift horse in the mouth. Unfortunately this gift horse may turn out to be more of a Trojan horse, providing the IHA with a vehicle to take control of the more lucrative ends of the industry.
Downpatrick on Wednesday saw Michael Hourigan notch up the 500th winner of his career, an achivement made all the more admirable by the fact that he failed to train a single winner in his first six years with a licence.
Bookmakers at Clonmel on Thursday were very slow to price up the runners for the opening race, not one had a full board priced two minutes before the off time. This is a common occurrence at many tracks but for some reason it has become the norm at the Co. Tipperary venue.
Tom Foley`s dicision to sidestep Cheltenham with his stable-star was justly rewarded when Danoli put up a typically gutsy perfomance to win at Navan. This was the gelding`s first success for over three years and he will now head for the Heineken Gold Cup at Punchestown.
The opening day of the flat at The Curragh saw Aidan O`Brien and Michael Kinane continue where they had left off last season, combining for a short priced double. Monashee Mountain was ridden confidently by the champion and though the colt is endowed with more speed than stamina, he must have a realistic chance in the Guineas.
The 3-Y-O maiden, won impressively by Legal Jousting, looked a decent contestand will throw up plenty of winners in the coming weeks, in particular Certain Charm and Ambry
Vincent Finegan.
