On the turf with Charles Joyce

A round-up of racing news and tips from Charles.

On a very subdued racing front City of Troy duly won the Eclipse at Sandown as suggested in last month’s T&A. But I can’t be too overexcited at odds of 2/7. What was more interesting than the colt winning was the presence of John Magnier and his wife Susan at the track. It’s the first time in many years Mrs Magnier has attended a race meeting.

When listening to Aidan O’Brien being interviewed about the horses he trains it is very noticeable who he claims is responsible for the decisions taken about the horses. It’s always ‘the lads’ who decide where the horses run. The ‘the lads’ includes Sue Magnier, the daughter of legendary trainer Vincent O’Brien, who is married to John Magnier who himself was a key figure in making the Coolmore operation into the racing force it is today. Vincent O’Brien and Vernons pools’ magnate Robert Sangster were part of the project who with Magnier’s help transformed it. One key decision taken was to invest in the progeny of the 1964 Kentucky Derby winner bred by Canadian E.P. Taylor, Northern Dancer who sired Nijinsky the last horse to win the triple crown (Newmarket 2,000 Guineas, Derby, and St Leger at Doncaster) in the UK and Sadler’s Wells who became a terrific stallion between 1990 to 2004 he was leading prize money winning stallion in 14 of those 15 years. He sired 12 English Classic winners including super stallion Galileo who won the 2001 Derby at Epsom. If the “lads” take the decisions the responsibility for failure when one of the horses run poorly such as City of Troy in this year’s 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket is always the trainer’s error according to Aidan O’Brien. On the other hand, when things go well the softly spoken Irishman will give credit to others who work for the operation, and if he misses someone out, he will go back and include them during the interview. When Los Angeles won the Irish Derby Aidan O’Brien include in his list of people responsible for the colt’s win the producers of his hay and straw. It was a big day for people living in Ireland. Not only the Irish Derby, but Galway beat Dublin in the challenge for the Sam Maguire Cup (inter county Gaelic football championship) for the first time since 1934, and Taylor Swift rocked Dublin’s Aviva Stadium. Why was Tay Tay not at Sandringham? She’s playing most places in Europe on her Eras Tour. Except that is Glastonbury, I guess those die-hard wannabe hippies must be happy with Shania Twain and reruns of Coldplay for their £350 plus ticket money.

For less than a tenth of a Glastonbury ticket people could attend the Windsor Enclosure at Royal Ascot with Tuesday’s ticket costing £35.

This year Aidan O’Brien took his total of Royal Ascot winners within touching distance of a century when Bedtime Story won the Chesham Stakes to give him 91 winners. What a winner the filly was. If she returns to the track in the same form even Pegasus would be running for second place. The family O’Brien also win at Royal Ascot as sons Joseph and Donnacha trained winners in Berkshire in June. Donnacha’s Porta Fortuna complemented her victory in last year's Albany Stakes by winning the Group1 Coronation Stakes in the process beating his father’s Opera Singer in to 2^nd place. The winner of the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot, Illinois, showed he has the stamina for the Doncaster marathon classic, and that he may follow in the hoof steps of another Ballydoyle St Leger winner Leading Light who completed the Queens Vase/St Leger double in 2013. Should Illinois win the St Leger remember you read it first in T&A back in June. Just as T&A readers in the same edition will have been aware that a horse that ran well in one of the Guineas races was one to be on in the Jersey Stakes. Haatem had finished 3^rd at Newmarket and 2^nd at the Curragh won at 7/2 he had been 5/1 earlier in the day. River Tiber who was 3^rd at the Curragh proved to be a bit of a let-down and again when in the July Cup at Newmaket he was dropped in distance. Maybe he will go on redemption for the Prix Maurice De Gheest at Deauville in August. The race is named after the man who died the day after he was named chevalier de Legion d’honneur. Port Fairy was one to note in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot which she won at 12/1 for Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore. Makes the monthly subscription great value at twice the price.

On a much darker note Radio Telefis Eireann ( RTE ) the national broadcaster in Ireland carried out an undercover investigation into the single abattoir that was licensed to slaughter horses. The revelations forced the Irish Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue to close the abattoir down. Horse Racing Ireland and the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board duly passed the buck as nothing to do with us governor. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine is responsible for the welfare of a horse from birth to end of life still tried to pass the buck. It issued a statement claiming. “The welfare of horses is protected by legislation, placing responsibility on owners and those who have animals in their possession or under their control to ensure the animals welfare.” On 20 June this year, when addressing the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) Public Accounts Committee Michael Sheahan from the Department of Agriculture told the committee that the Department has overall responsibility for policy, oversight and enforcement of animal welfare. When asked if he had seen the RTE expose Mr Sheahan said. “I did, it was horrific.”

Not even anyone who lives in a parallel universe would believe those who were seen abusing horses in the lairage at Straffan Co. Kildare became paragons of virtue when the animals moved to the next-door abattoir under the noses of the departments vets. Or that injured and distressed horses never entered the abattoir. Nor that department vets never once strayed to the lairage area.

I’m not sure which is more nauseating whether it’s what was happening at Shannonside’s abattoir or the letting down of every punter who has ever placed a pound or euro on a horse to win a race with the abandonment of their responsibilities by the horse racing authorities everywhere who should be diligent in ensuring such practices no longer exist within their jurisdiction.

Back to Royal Ascot where the Willie Mullins trained Belloccio won. He is now to be aimed at a Listed hurdle race at the Galway Festival where if successful he will be set the target of the Supreme Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. Although he will be a seven-year-old by March next year in a race dominated by 5 and 6-year-olds I would put nothing by trainer Willie Mullins as he won the race with odds on favourite Appreciate It in 2021 the last 7 year old to win.

As we look forward to August and the first Group 1 for 2-year-olds, the Pheonix Stakes at the Curragh where the winner of the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot has a very poor record. Since 1997 Aidan O’Brien has won the race 17 times, but only once in the last 6 years. 9 winners last ran in the Railway Stakes won this year by Henri Matisse and 6 last ran in the Anglesey Stakes. 17 winners of the race won and 5 were 2^nd the last time they ran in the UK or Ireland. The race switched to the Curragh from Leopardstown in 2002 since when Aidan O’Brien has won 13 times. Up to 2009, there was no widescale handicapping system, since then only 3 of the 14 winners had a rating less than 104 two of which did not have a rating. This century there have been 4 winners at a double figure price, 2 of them fillies. It does look as if Aidan O’Brien’s Henri Matisse or perhaps Karl Burke’s Shareholder are the main contenders. Ger Lyons may decide to run his filly Babouche here rather than take on Fairy Grandmother or Bedtime Story at least one of whom are likely to be aimed at the Group 2 fillies only Debutante Stakes after their respective impressive wins at Royal Ascot.

The big handicap in August is the Ebor at York. Once due to the weight for age allowance scheme trainers would try to get a lowly weighted 3-year-old that was improving into the race. It worked for many years with 11 3-year-olds winning between 1981 to 2001, but that was the last year a 3-year-old won with very few since actually getting into the race because of the older horses having a higher weight (rather than official rating) for the race. In 2019, 3-year-olds became excluded from the race which is the richest handicap run in Europe. When looking for the winner of the race often logic has to be overcome. Logically the horses drawn on the inside of the track in the lower numbered stalls have shorter to run than those drawn in double figure stalls and thus should have a better chance of winning. But this century only 4 winners were drawn in a single figure stall. (This does not hold true for all races over differing distances at York. i.e. double figure stalls are at a disadvantage on the straight track over 5 and 6 furlongs.) When Purple Moon won in 2007, he was rated 101. In November of that year, he was 2^nd in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup and later ran 2^nd in the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase and 3^rd in the Group 1 Sheema Classic in Dubai on World Cup Day. He’s just an example of how trainers look at these types of handicaps. The horse he beat that day on the Knavesmire was Honolulu who went on to finish 3^rd in that year’s St Leger at 13/8 favourite. Since 2007, only the Willie Mullins trained filly Sesenta has been rated less than 98 by the official handicapper with the last 8 winners all rated over 100. Even so since 1997 only 1 winner from 56 who tried has successfully caried more than 9 stone 8 pounds to victory. Recent form is important with most winners having a top 3 place at least once in their last 3 runs in the UK or Ireland.

The nurseries, which are handicaps exclusively for 2-year-olds, began in July and run to the end of the year when this year’s 2-year-olds turn into the classic generation of next year. Away from Doncaster, Goodwood and Wolverhampton Ralph Beckett with his Irish and British bred runners does well in classes 3; 4; 5 &6 nurseries that are number 1 to 7 on the racecard. This sounds silly, but a significant number of nurseries are won by those horses close to the top of the handicap. I’m very wary of any of his that have a starting price above 8/1 and any that are wearing cheekpieces. Another trainer who does well in nurseries, especially with fillies, is Richard Fahey with his runners that were 2^nd or 3^rd the last time they ran. For some reason he does not do well at Chester with his 2-year-olds and Southwell is a track where caution is warranted. Fields of 13 runners or less when his runner has a racecard number of up to 10 do well especially in Classes 3; 4 & 5. They do better if last time they didn’t run at Wolverhampton, Pontefract or Haydock. Hopefully they’ll keep the interest up and on the right side of the bookies.

As always, pay the bills first and under no circumstances bet if you cannot afford to lose, because even the best professional punters lose more often than they win.