the guineas.

​Firstly, and please forgive me but this subject continues to rattle my cage with a ferocity like no other during my lifetime. If there is integrity in social distancing, why the need for masks, and if there is integrity in wearing masks, why the need for social distancing? A beautiful sport twisted into a public service spectacle by a government desperate to have on televised view an image to reinforce its message of fear of a virus on the wane, a virus that world data confirms is no worse than any other flu outbreak that has gone before it. I apologise if you have had a loved-one die during this ‘state of emergency’, though in your heart of hearts you will know that someone with a serious illness would similarly have had their condition worsened by any strain of flu. Worldwide, Covid-19 has killed on its own a very very small majority of people. I disagree with the racing media when they claim horse racing has shown the way forward for other sports. We have done the government’s work; we have kow-towed, curtsied to their fear-mongering and jumped through a hundred hoops for the privilege of being allowed to work and entertain the public.
While I am on a moan. The Irish, it seems, have plans to reschedule the 2020 Irish Grand National, as well as many of the races that should have been the high-point of the Punchestown Festival. Whereas, the B.H.A. just could not be bothered to reschedule the Aintree Grand National.
Anyway, they did bother to get the Guineas run, as well as Royal Ascot, though without either the Royal element or the glamour, as well as the Epsom classics. So, we know when push comes to shove where their priorities lie, don’t we?
The more the public get to know Oisin Murphy the more there is to like about him, and the image of Sheikh Fahad sat on the floor in the living room of his Newmarket home his arms aloft while his wife jumped for joy was both charming and a snapshot into a world where Sheikhs do not sit on thrones of gold or Chippendale chairs but also on the ground like you or me. Prince Fahad is centred, grounded, though living amongst horses has a tendency to do that any man or woman, wealthy or poor. Horses are levellers of human dispositions.
Kameko is a high-class horse and a good winner of a good 2,000 Guineas. Whether he is a Derby horse is another matter. Oisin seemed to think he was a 1-mile and a ¼ horse but then it is said a colt does not have to stay 1-mile and 4 to win a Derby. With the Irish Derby run this year before Epsom and, I think I read this right, the Eclipse restricted this year to 4-year-olds and up, Kameko’s connections might be forced toward Epsom. And it might prove a weak year. We just have no way of knowing at the moment, do we?
The horse I took out of the 2,000 Guineas as far as Epsom is concerned was Military March, a horse bred for further than a mile. Usually, at least it is said, the 2,000 Guineas is the best Derby trial (in the past it was described as the last two-year-old race of the previous season) though this year, with the race calendar upside down and a bit all over the place, you just wouldn’t know. With no Dante meeting this year – that is right, isn’t it? – something over the next couple of weeks, possibly at less than royal Royal Ascot, must appear as a likely Derby winner. Coolmore must have a dozen colts waiting in the wings to show their mettle and John Gosden surely must have a Derby horse or two up his sleeve. I must admit I was also taken with English King at Lingfield and I have no doubt if one of the leading stables had him, he would be half the odds he is. It would be good for the sport if he won for Ed Walker, an up and coming trainer. Flat racing could do with a bit of a shake-up. But as things stand, I think Military March is the value bet for Epsom. It would be nice if Godolphin stayed loyal to Hector Crouch but its skinny odds that Sheikh Mohammed will insist that James Doyle is in the saddle come Derby Day.
Love will win the Oaks. No discussion required.
I would like to think in appreciation of racing upholding without question the official narrative that owners will be allowed to attend race-meetings by the time of the Epsom Derby. This would be another ‘baby-step’ forward, another ‘baby-step’ toward allowing spectators to also attend. Of course, whether the B.H.A. or government could insist the Queen or members of other foreign Royal families wear face-masks and social distance might be a matter of great delicacy.
With the B.H.A. only allowing senior jockeys to ride at the moment, it is giving greater opportunity to the more famous of the female jockeys, not that Hollie Doyle requires such assistance as at present her form suggests a crack at the champion jockeys title is not out of the question. It is especially pleasing to see, at least to me as I think last season her ability was being allowed to go waste, Josephine Gordon being given greater opportunities and to see her taking full advantage. Long may it continue.