he would not agree, but he's the unluckiest of jockeys.

​It is easy, and perhaps lazy, to mark Jack Kennedy as a man who if he wasn’t on the receiving end of bad luck, he would have no luck at all in his life. Of course, he was born with an envied talent for riding racehorses and he has honed that talent with dedicated hard work over his short yet successful career.
As David Jennings (or was it Richie Forristal or Patrick Mullins? One of them, anyways) said of Kennedy, ‘he’s so laid back when interviewed, you think you should feel his pulse to make sure he was still breathing’. I’m paraphrasing but the beauty of the description of Kennedy’s character is clearly evidenced from Jennings, Forristal or Mullins’ superior writing skill. At the tender age of 23, he is already as good a rider as any of his peers, both in Ireland and Britain.
Talent and dedication is not a golden ticket, of course, for the level of success Kennedy has already achieved but it should broker some form of guarantee that a modicum of luck, at least with injuries, would come his way. At 23 Kennedy has already endured 5 broken legs. That is 2½ to either leg. And that is only half the number of serious injuries to come he has already endured. If I had suffered even a quarter of the injuries that have blighted his career I would be on medication for depression and going around uttering ‘woe is me’ to passing strangers. One can only admire Kennedy’s fortitude; the sang-froid manner in which he looks mocking destiny in the eye and in reply shrugs his shoulders and gets on with the important procedure of healing.
Apparently, instead of moping around, as I would do the day after once more having plaster applied to a lower limb, moaning ‘woe is me’, Kennedy was seen alongside Gordon Elliott watching horses schooling at Cullentra. Unbelievable! A lesson to us all, no matter how stupid his doctors may think it.
As soon as I read of Kennedy’s latest misfortune, the thought crossed my mind that Gordon Elliott would ask Davy Russell to reconsider his retirement. I wasn’t confident Russell would backtrack as it is known how much of a family man he is and I couldn’t see his wife exactly jumping for joy at the idea of her getting-older-by day (0nly 43. If only I could be 43 once more) husband reapplying for his licence to ride.
Jockeys are strange (mad?) creatures, though. When an accountant retires, you will not find him hanging around accountancy offices. When a boxer retires, will you find him the next day in the gym hitting a punchbag? Yet Russell continued to ride out, and doubtless schooling, at Cullentra. Is he, though, now looking forward to further Cheltenham Festival glory? No. He has said he will only fill Kennedy’s role as Number 1 at Cullentra until Kennedy is back riding, be that the day before the Cheltenham Festival (did I mention Kennedy has set mid-March as his goal to return?) or the day after. He will step away as soon as Kennedy is fit to ride again.
Of course, with Jack Kennedy’s track record, Russell might make as many swansongs as Frank Sinatra. For the sake of Jack and Russell’s loved-ones, let’s hope not.
THE SLOW SLIDE OF THE DUBLIN RACING FESTIVAL.
You would think, wouldn’t you, that with the Dublin Racing Festival being so lauded, it is a rip-roaring success. Yet, despite British fans attending the meeting in greater numbers, seemingly, every year, it continues to be ignored by British trainers, with only 2 entries from these shores in the Grade 1’s for this season’s renewal, with neither of them looking likely winners, and with many of the top Irish horses not being targeted at all that lovely Euro cash.
If it were not for the Irish Champion Hurdle, a corker of a race as long as Willie Mullins runs both State Man and Vauban against Honeysuckle, I’m not sure mouth-watering would be the right adjective to describe the meeting. Galopin Des Champs might only face stable-companions in the Irish Gold Cup, with A Plus Tard going straight to Cheltenham. Blue Lord will also perhaps only face opposition from his own team-mates, though if the ground is proper good then Sceau Royal still retains the ability to keep him honest. Mullins dominates the 2-mile novice Goffs Arkle, though if Sir Gerhard runs his presence will give the race greater interest. Facile Vega v High Definition in the 2-mile novice hurdle will be both informative and intriguing.
But let’s be honest, was this what the Dublin Racing Festival was created for – races that would have attracted the same number of runners, with the same level of competitiveness, as when the same races were strung-out over different racecourses over a period of 3-weeks.
Is it any wonder Willie Mullins targets festival meetings, be they summer, autumn, spring or winter, in Britain, Ireland or increasingly France, why he plots long-term strategies to run as many horses as possible to win for his clients and staff as much prize-money, 1st, 2nd, 3rd of 4th  as can be imagined? Definitions of the word vary. ‘A person endowed with extraordinary intellectual powers’. Or, ‘A single strongly marked capacity or aptitude’. To quote Conan Doyle. ‘Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognises genius’.
If only such a definition could be as easily applied to one of those people who are paid large salaries to govern our sport, on either side of the Irish Sea, as they can be to Willie Mullins, the master of Closutton.