irish incentive, the brynes affair, Mr. John McDonald & belmont stakes.

​When it was announced that sixty-races per year would be restricted to trainers outside of the top four stables I thought it a sensible proposal to help the less successful yet hard-working stables to survive. The holy four cried foul, threatened legal action and the proposal was quickly scuttled. To be fair, though, Irish racing has come-up with perhaps a better scheme, one the holy four do not object to. 60-races are to used as a sort of championship for the lesser Irish stables, though the holy four will be eligible to run horses in these races, they do not qualify for the ‘championship’ bonus. Points will be awarded for the first five places in these 60-races, though not necessarily, as I understand it, the first five past the post. At the end of the series, 120,000 euros will be divided-up to the top owner, trainer and jockey. Not David Power Cup millions territory but an applaudable effort to find compromise nonetheless. 

There is something about the family Bryne that excites the Dick Francis in us all. The Bryne family might believe that we are all out to get them, and they might be right. But that unseat at Wexford by Phillip Bryne had intrigue written all over it. The favourite back in second going to the last, the drifter in the market about to trot-up, the jockey falling off like a drunken man from a bar-stool – comedy or a thriller, make-up your own mind.
Equally bereft were, again, the Wexford stewards. Having falsely accused Ted Walsh of pulling fast one at their last meeting, the 3,000 euro fine they imposed quickly quashed a week later, now they decided there was nothing untoward in a jockey falling off like a fool from a horse who should have been favourite but a huge drifter in the betting, allowing the favourite to cruise to victory. We all await with baited breath the result of the I.H.R.B. inquiry into the incident. I just hope if Brynes is should be found guilty of whatever rule he might be complicit in breaking that the Wexford stewards are punished equally as hard. They have brought the sport into disrepute, whatever the findings of the official inquiry.
The always impressive Adam Macnamara said in Brynes defence, if he fell-off with intent, why leave it to the last hurdle? Mick Fitzgerald on the other hand made the arguable defence of Bryne that no jockey wants to fall-off for risk of injury. Yet history will tell you that a jockey will fall off deliberately if there is money in it for him.

In a letter in the Racing Post today, Mr. John McDonald bemoaned the number of class 5 and 6-races last Friday, suggesting ‘it was not exactly a feast for the racing connoisseur.’ I would contend that no one intended those races to be a feast for the ‘racing connoisseur’. That sector of the sport has their feast this weekend and at Royal Ascot ten-days later. As I have said many times, you can have as exciting a race at a point-to-point as you can at Royal Ascot. A seller at Wolverhampton can have as close a finish as you might have at the Ebor meeting. You can win just as much on a 20/1 winner at Southwell on the all-weather as you can on a 20/1 winner at the July meeting at Newmarket. It is all about personal perception and the need to provide races for the type of horses in the racing pool. Of course, that puts to one side the fact that there is too much racing at this time of year, both on the flat and over jumps. And certainly, too much all-weather racing during the period of now and until the end of high summer.

I have no real interest in U.S. racing. I am only interested in the Belmont Stakes, third and final leg of the U.S. triple crown, as Saffie and Jamie Osborne are attempting to win the race with Heart of Honor. What startles me, though, is that the Belmont historically is run over 12-furlongs, yet this season and last, due to Belmont racecourse being redeveloped, the third leg of the U.S. triple crown, a holy of holies, one would think, of U.S. racing, has been run over 10-furlongs due to it being held at Saratoga. Can you imagine if Epsom were unable to stage the Derby due to redevelopment or any other reason and it were staged at Newmarket, as during the 2nd world war, yet run over 2-furlongs shorter than tradition? True fans of the sport would be up in arms about it, yet in the U.S., apparently, they shrug their shoulders as if it is a matter of no concern. 
No wonder I shrug my shoulders at U.S. horse racing as if it is a matter of no concern.
Go on, Saffie, get that numbskull of a ride out of the gate like a rocket is tied to its tail and stun U.S. racing!