the decline of the irish derby.

​The saddest part is that the Curragh and the Irish racing authorities seem to be sitting back believing that only time can solve the problem in the decline in popularity with owners and trainers of the Irish Derby. That said, the decline is not wholly the fault of the Irish. It is the fault of breeders and their insatiable quest for speed, speed, speed. The proliferation of top 2-year-old races over sprint distances and the greater limelight put on Group sprint races to the detriment of the top middle-distance and staying races is at the heart of this particular problem. And not only with the Irish version of the Derby. The Epsom Derby isn’t what it used to be either. Watch old Pathe News videos on YouTube if you want corroboration of what I mean. The Epsom Derby used to halt a nation; it was great day-out for both the working class and the social elite. It should be returned to being staged on the first Wednesday in June.
To turn the ship around there has to be greater incentives for breeders to breed again for stamina and to forsake the rest of the equine world’s obsession with sprinters and milers. In the first instance, the proliferation of sprinters is doing the classic races of Europe more harm than good and it is also playing its part in a fewer number of ex-flat horses available to National Hunt trainers. 
But to return to the fall from grace of the Irish Derby.
Something above and beyond changing the day of the race from Saturday to Sunday must be attempted, especially as there is very little hope of the European Pattern Committee even considering moving the race to another month during the summer. To my mind, as radical an idea as it might be, that the Irish Derby might be more attractive to owners and trainers if it were run in August, a time of the year when Group type 3-year-olds must take on older horses. But that isn’t going to happen, so let’s move on.
The obvious suggestion is to include a bonus prize if the winner of either the English or French Derbies should win the Irish version. £1-million, perhaps, with a supplementary bonus of £500,000 if any placed horses in the English and French Derbies were to win at the Curragh. Or perhaps ‘win and you are in’ races throughout Europe and the U.S. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I suspect, though, that money will not solve the problem as Sunday’s prize-fund will have fed the starving of third world countries for the next twelve-months. But bonuses must be considered as the Irish Derby has too rich a history to be allowed to wither on the vine, to be harvested year after year by one man, one set of owners or, as likely in the future, the families of the before-mentioned. 
It is championed by Racing Post journalists that the distance should be shortened to that of the French Derby. Yet for the future such a move would exacerbate the decline in the breeding of middle-distance and staying horses. When the historic distance of Derbies becomes too far a stretch, how long will it be before the clamour is heard for 1-mile to be more appropriate than 1-mile 2-furlongs? And that Guineas races should be reduced to 7-furlongs? In the U.S., any distance beyond 1-mile 2-furlongs is considered a long-distance race.
The truth is this: breeders put greater prestige on the Guineas, and Group 1’s over 1-mile 2-furlongs. It is this thinking, the world perspective view, that is slowly choking the life out of the historic middle-distance races in both Britain and Ireland. The situation is not new in the making. There was a horror-afoot back in 1972 when John Hislop insisted his great horse, the winning machine, Brigadier Gerard should have his limitations exposed by running in the King George & Queen Elizabeth Stakes. He won, his courage, perhaps, greater than his stamina. The best example of this horror of exposing the limitations in a potential great stallion was Frankel, a horse that breeds stayers for fun and on the racecourse a horse with limitless stamina and class, yet his owner and trainer always played safe. “Why should we,” rather than “Why not”.
Although Auguste Rodin has now won twice at 1-mile 4-furlongs, you can bet your bottom dollar that to ‘improve his standing amongst breeders’ Coolmore will be desperate for him to demonstrate the speed to win over 2-furlongs less, especially when in receipt of the age allowance.
As for the horse himself; he’s an ordinary Derby winner. In eyes he is no ‘collector’s item’. King of Steel is the best 3-year-old around and I hope at some point this season Roger Varian gives him the opportunity to prove his superiority.