Be Careful What You Wish For

The chatter in the racing world today has been around the offer of Sheikh Fahad to inject £700,000 to the Sussex Stakes prize money if Frankel and Black Caviar both race.

Frankel on Champions Day 2011

Needless to say the usual suspects have been salivating at the prospect and the hyperbole has already begun – without either set of connections confirming the race as a target.

I’m minded of the old adage “be careful what you wish for” for the offer could be more trouble than it is worth.

First of all there is the £1,000,000 purse should both horses turn up. Meanwhile racing has a funding crisis prize money is in a downward spiral and a new funding mechanism needs to be sorted out.

Yet, against this backdrop, one million pounds of prize money is offered if two horses turn up for one particular race.

I accept the extra money is coming from, for want of a better word, a benefactor but it still does not look right and it, potentially, sends out the wrong message.

If I heard an owner pointing out how poor prize money was I would ask him to reconcile his complaint against the money on offer for this one race.

To me it is akin to a family struggling to make ends meet, with maxed out credit cards, receiving a substantial sum of money from a generous uncle and blowing it on a luxury holiday.      

Now I admit I am a fully paid up capitalist and to me socialism is an anathema. I fully accept an individual is entitled to spend their money how they see fit but in the current economic climate even I wince at such a huge amount of money being spent just so two horses can race, even more so when you consider the other concerns I have.

Let us assume the money is not an issue there are plenty of other concerns.

Now Goodwood is a lovely racecourse, there is no better place to spend a sunny summers afternoon enjoying  flat meeting. However Goodwood is one of those courses that could be considered idiosyncratic with it being set on the chalky South Downs.

Now I’m no expert on Australian racing and I am quite happy to be corrected but I strongly suspect there are no courses in Oz configured in the same was as Goodwood. I strongly suspect Black Caviar has never run on an undulating track.

If Black Caviar were my horse why would I want to run her at Goodwood? For such an important race I would not want her running at a course where she will be at a disadvantage compared to her rival.

If there is to be a UK meeting then it should be at a flatter track like Ascot or York, this would be fairer on both contenders.

Then there is the danger the race will not live up to what will be almost unbearable hyperbole in the build up to the race and we all know the hype can backfire.

Remember the Frankel vs Canford Cliffs hype at last years Glorious Goodwood?  
What a damp squib that turned out to be.

All the “showdown” would prove is who was the better horse on the day, nothing more than that.

 You can go 1.01 that the connections of the losing horse will have their excuses ready the moment their charge crosses the line.

Is it also fair that one of the contenders has to travel half way round the world to compete?

If the showdown has to take place would it not be fairer held at a neutral venue where both horses have to travel and to that end staging the race in South Africa would probably be best.

- - - - -

Richard Hughes has also been a talking point at the moment, following his failed attempt to avoid having his Indian ban reciprocated.

Whether the penalty handed out to Hughes in India is deemed to be to severe is, frankly, irrelevant.

He chose to ride in India, he accepted he would have to ride under their rules and regulations, he then chose to show scant regard for their rules (on more than one occasion). He was not forced to ride in India.

Whether the reciprocity arrangement is formal or informal, there is one and the ban should apply here.

For the BHA to refuse the request from the Indian authorities, it would have looked arrogant and patronising to a "smaller" authority.

Hughes legal team can attempt all the mealy mouthed worming they want but at the end of the day Hughes committed the offence so he pays the price - ergo I have no sympathy for him at all.

If Hughes did not want to be in this position the answer was in his hands in the first place.

Whilst Hughes may be a good rider he does seem to have an ego issue - two bust-ups in India and his petulant (and actually meaningless and empty gestured) dummy spitting when he received a ban under the whip rules here shows a particularly nasty character trait.

Goodwood Glorious?

Well as I mentioned in last weeks epistle I was making my first ever visit to Glorious Goodwood last Tuesday.

Was it worth it? Did it live up to the hype?

Sadly the answer to both was a resounding no.

The one positive is I managed to get to the course avoiding the worse of the traffic, entirely due to Lee McKenzie’s route which he has been using, probably, more years than either of us would care to remember.

In hindsight I should have turned back as soon as I arrived at the course as what laid in wait was evident in the car park. There is usually a large amount of free space in the car park that is assigned for members of the press. When I arrived, over two hours before the first race, it was almost full to capacity.

Indeed I was asked to park towards the outer extremities and was requested to reverse into a parking space with my boot as close to the tree trunk as possible. Sounds easy but the manoeuvre entailed reversing up a somewhat steep slope, which meant a somewhat fast approach, with a rapid stop as the tree trunk loomed. To add drama to the parking there was a distinct burning aroma coming from my clutch as I reversed up the slope.

Walking through the car park I was confronted by a sea of cars with the distinctive blue “P” label in the windscreen, indicating a lady or gentleman of the press being the owner of the car.

My worse fears were realised when I finally arrived in the press room, which at Goodwood is not insignificant in size. Not only was every space taken, people were crammed in almost three to every two places.

Needless to say most of the seats were occupied by people who wouldn’t normally be seen dead at a run of the mill midweek meeting.

Realising how impossible it was going to be, I stopped a bemused (and also deskless) John Hunt and asked to borrow his Racing Post to see if there was another meeting I could get to. Alas the only other meetings were Beverley, Perth and Worcester and even my driving is not that fast.

Just as I was about to slink off, somebody produced some more chairs. Accepting I wasn’t going to get any desk space I found a pitch next to the photocopier, which had the bonus of a spare power socket so I could plug in my laptop, and made my home there for the afternoon.

I managed to grab a few newspapers to rest my laptop on so I didn’t get second degree burns as it rested on my legs. At least I was able to file reports on the racing.

I had always been led to believe that Glorious Goodwood had something of a special atmosphere. To be honest the atmosphere was little different to any other Goodwood meeting.

Now don’t get me wrong, the atmosphere at Goodwood is always pretty special but I was disappointed that the atmosphere at the Glorious meeting wasn’t even better.

Of course one thing which cannot be faulted is the quality of the racing.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We are coming to the end of the concert season for racecourses. It now seems obligatory for courses to hold at least one post-racing concert a season.

Some like Newmarket, Epsom and Haydock are turning it into a cottage industry.

It used to be that virtually every concert was by a tribute band and, even now, tribute bands form the core of the post racing fare.

Increasingly headline acts are also performing and JLS have performed at more than one post racing concert this season.

There is no doubt the concerts get bums on seats and racecourses will have attendance figures they can only dream of in other circumstances.

But are these concerts actually any good for racing?

When the tribute bands perform admission prices generally remain the same or attract a small premium.

When the “headline” bands perform prices go through the roof. Newmarket have been charging £32 for their Newmarket Nights concerts, Epsom have been charging £32 and Sandown £35. Even children, usually admitted free, are being charged admission.

Well the courses are selling out most concert nights, so from their point of view they will consider the exercise a success, especially when you add on extra bar and food income as well.

However these meetings do nothing to attract those who just want to go for the racing.

In the last week I have been to three meetings with bands performing Sandown (Razorlight) at £35, Epsom (Madness) £32 and Newmarket (James Morrison) £32, yet on all three evenings the actual racing was what can only be described as absolutely dire.

The dedicated racegoers, with no interest in the concert, cannot be expected to pay over £30 for six low grade races.

Also how many of those going to the racing a) actually bother to watch the racing and b) will go racing again in future?

There is also another issue and that concerns horse welfare. I wasn’t at Epsom the week before last when JLS were performing but by all accounts the course was packed with pre-pubescent and teenage girls screaming their heads off, not only during the concerts but during racing.

There were genuine concerns the screaming could have spooked the horses.

If racecourses want to become concert venues as well as racetracks then all well and good – but why not keep the two separate?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I get very annoyed when the armchair critics start criticising commentators and I am quick to defend the men who call the horses.

Asides from the jockeys they have one of the most difficult jobs at the racecourse.

The quality of commentating in the UK has never been higher and, thankfully, mistakes are few and far between. The trouble is when mistakes are made there is no hiding place for the perpetrator.

Even the best commentator can have a bad race.

At the last Ascot meeting Richard Hoiles, arguably the best current commentator, almost missed Frankie Dettori ploughing a lone furrow against the stands rail …. It wasn’t only Richard who missed it, so did the cameraman, director and those of us watching from the press balcony, so mistakes can happen.

However, occasionally, there are mistakes that commentators make which are inexcusable and that relates to not doing their homework and getting the basic facts right.

At Newmarket on Friday evening the commentator was also doubling up as the course MC, something I thought they were not meant to do. He seemed more concerned about “entertaining” the crowd than concentrating on his commentating duties.

In one of the contests there was an odds-on runner, so very likely to be involved in the contest. Throughout the commentary he referred to the horse as “he” yet the favourite was one of two fillies in the contest.

That is a basic error and an unforgivable one, it almost shows contempt for the listeners …… “I can’t be bothered to do even basic research.”

OK it is not as bad as calling a wrong horse and nobody died but it was sloppy and a very basic mistake.

I know, for example, Richard highlights the fillies in yellow on his racecard and I believe most of the other commentators do the same or something very similar. So it isn't rocket science.

An Almost Perfect Day

When you spend as much time going racing as I do you tend to get into something of a rut, when run race just seems to be like any other, almost a merry-go-round of racing, some ups, some downs and plenty of nondescript stuff in the middle.

Occasionally you will get a race which will make you sit up and pay attention, a promising newcomer, a great turn of foot, a Houdini escape from a seemingly impossible position.

Even more rarely you will get one of those special, “I was there moments.”

Day’s like the first Sunday in October last year, at a racecourse at the top end of a forest in the centre of Paris. The day when Sea The Stars extricated himself, with the assistance of Mick Kinane, from seemingly impossible position to win the Arc. It was an unbelievable performance which had to be seen to be believed, it was a scene that had tears rolling down the cheeks of many a cynical hack, myself included.

You came away privileged at having witnessed such a fantastic race live, coming home knowing you have probably experienced a once in a lifetime race.

If somebody had said to me that day in October that eight months later I would, once again be watching a race in total awe, I would have laughed at them

Yet on Saturday, on a triangular track at the bottom of The Queen’s rather large back garden there was an equine performance which left those who watched it standing there open mouthed, not believing what they had just witnessed.

I am referring, of course, to Harbinger’s demolition of a small but very select field in Ascot’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. He beat two Derby winners but that was not what caught the eye. It was the manner of his victory and the emphatic manner in which he accelerated down the home straight under Olivier Peslier.

To emphasise how good a performance it was he broke the course record for good measure and all this under what was effectively a third choice rider.

Stable Jockey Ryan Moore had the choice of riding Harbinger or Workforce and he settled with the Derby winner.

Moore is not renown for showing his emotions but one look at his face after Saturday’s race said it all …….. he knew he had made a really bad choice.

The ride on Harbinger had also been offered to Frankie Dettori but he opted, instead, to ride at York, so the ride went to Peslier and what a ride he gave the horse.

The race was eloquently summed up by Alistair Down when he said, “I cannot believe what I have just seen.”

Nor could any of us in the press room at Ascot, even the handful of us who had gone against the “perceived wisdom” and had thought Harbinger had the beating of Workforce and backed our belief with hard cash. Even we could not believe the manner of victory.

The near sell out crowd at Ascot also appreciated the performance and horse, rider and trainer all received a rapturous welcome after the race.

It was almost, but not quite, perfect.

So what was wrong?

Well Ascot probably has one of the most stunningly impressive parade rings, not only in this country but in the world and it was packed before the race with racegoers wanting to see the six magnificent horses before the race.

They waited and they waited but the runners did not appear in the parade ring until less than ten minutes before the off, meaning they had barely had the opportunity to do one lap of the parade ring before the bell went for the horses to mount.

This surely is not enough, especially with such a big race. Racegoers have the right to see the horses parading properly in the parade ring, not just a token appearance.

I’m told it was to ensure the race went off on time because of the television coverage. We are talking BBC television coverage here, coverage that has been so decimated one actually wonders why they bother. Yet it seems they can still dictate timings, even if it is to the detriment of the paying punters.

It is a shame racegoers at Ascot were short changed on this one.

Speaking of the BBC it was a pleasant surprise to see Radio Five Live giving top billing to the meeting, even presenting Sport On Five from the course and providing live commentary on all the races.

Clearly they could not find any minor county league football to cover live or there wasn’t a tiddlywinks competition begging for live coverage and I suspect the early finish of the Pakistan / Australia test match helped as they had more time to fill.

Whatever the reason, full marks for giving the meeting prominence, even if it did mean having the inane utterances of Kevin Day, who is allegedly some sort of comedian, rolled out to dumb down the coverage. I can’t remember the exact question but as I was caught in traffic trying to get to the course I remember listening to Day chatting to commentator John Hunt. One of the questions Day asked Hunty was so stupid, so inane, had it been put to me I would not only have told him but I would have provided a practical demonstration as to where he should stick his microphone.

Why do broadcasters feel the need to dumb down to the level of a moron.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Despite it having been my local course for the first thirty odd years of my life, and having been a frequent visitor to the course, I have never actually attended a Glorious Goodwood meeting. Hopefully that will change tomorrow.

I am told the atmosphere is really good (and the racing isn’t that bad either) so I am really looking forward to my first visit to the festival.

This week also sees one of Ireland’s biggest festivals, the Galway Festival. By all accounts you need a very strong liver for this particular as the racing apparently takes second place to the partying. Another Festival I have yet to visit, although I should have perhaps visited a few years ago when I was a drinker.