It is just over a month now since the English Derby Final and the start of the Irish equivalent is only a couple of weeks away.
We’ve had a debrief on Nottingham, what we liked, and what we didn’t. We’ve also discussed whether it is something we would want to repeat. The whole thing lasted a couple of months, including trialstakes, probably eight or nine journeys.
It was a lot of money and effort. Every time Nicky came over, it was 11pm leaving here, normally on the Friday night, driving through the night, catching the ferry, driving to Dave Firmager’s kennel. Spending a few hours there on the Saturday, then there was the meeting itself. It was then pressure to make the ferry before arriving back here on Sunday morning at about 8.30am.
Each trip over cost about €700 and Nicky was shattered for the next couple of days before we were thinking about the next trip. Now we don’t mind the hard work, and the owners were prepared for the expense, but if we were to come back next year, I would like to see a few things changed.
The first issue would be the traps. Nottingham’s are similar to those we used to have in Ireland. They were replaced because, in the opinion of the majority of people over here, myself included, they favour the middle traps.
They are quite flimsy and the dogs in the middle can press against the front and make it move, giving them an advantage.They can’t weight down the fronts because it makes them too slow to rise.
I would bet that if Steve Nash had set his camera up with the right shutter speed, you could probably photograph it. In Ireland, in the worst cases, I’ve even seen dogs in the middle traps anticipate the break and push so far forward that they get their feet trapped under the front. The type that they use at the Coral and Ladbroke tracks are greatly improved technology.
I would also want to see some improvements on the bends to give wide runners a chance. I appreciate that it isn’t an issue in graded racing, or if you have a wide runner in an open who has much more early than the rest of the field. But when you get to the elite runners, you cannot afford to give away any advantage.
I thought there was another example of it in the Select Stakes with the dog from three popping clear and from that point, the race was virtually over. I am also not convinced that the third bend is as good as it could be. They seem to form a queue to get around it.
But I am not being massively critical of the place and I hope any views are taken in context of wanting to see the next Derby, if it is run there, a progression from this one. There is a lot to like about Nottingham. For a start, at least it is a big galloping circuit that you could at least tweak to improve. Most of the others could never stage a Derby no matter how many changes they made.
I thought the running surface, although it needed lots of water, was excellent and the staff could not have tried any harder. As a whole, the track do not settle for second best, which is why I hope they will consider any suggestions on their merit.
If I had one final moan, I don’t think I have ever been to a track with as many rules and regulations. I don’t think they are all necessary and some of them make everyone’s life more difficult than it need be.
Ireland has always been more easy going in how racing is staged, and it was one of the things that attracted Nicky and I to move here to bring up our family.
Even here though, things are changing for the worse. You can particularly see it for the meetings being staged for the UK betting shops. There are so many more rules, everything from not using a mobile phone on parade, to where you are allowed to walk your dog.
Now, if owners were being well paid for the inconvenience, fair enough. But you might have a first race at 8.30am, which means an owner probably has to get up at 5.30. He then loses the morning and if he doesn’t win, he gets all of €20, and he has had to pay half of that to enter the dog.
Why are owners putting up with it? I suppose there are two main reasons. Firstly, at least they are getting one run a week for their dog, where normally they might only get one run every three weeks with a low grade dog. Secondly, they are sacrificing themselves for the fear that without the contract, their track could close.
That is all very well, but it only works for a short time. Sooner or later, after enough long mornings and driving home with four beaten runners for a princely reward of €40, they are already starting to think, ‘why am I bothering?’
The other issue is youngsters. I was really irritated that our daughter Rachel, who is integral to running the kennel at home, was not allowed into the paddock at Nottingham because she is only 15. To make matters worse, she had to wait in the carpark because she couldn’t go into the track unaccompanied.
Ireland has always been great with kids, realising that without them falling in love with the game, there is no next generation coming through. But they are also being excluded by all the new rules.
It is so shortsighted.
I haven’t finalised our Irish Derby team yet but I would imagine we would probably have at least a dozen entries.
Of those who came to England, Nice Charmer has left the kennel and is actually back in England with Eric Cantillon who wants to run him in the East Anglian Derby. Beaming Paradise has picked up a gracilis injury and at three and a half, time is obviously against him.
Among the proven top class dogs are Clonbrien Prince, Clona Blaze, Blue East, Slippy Cian, Clona Blaze and Lenson Blinder. I am hoping Ballydoyle Valor will continue to improve and Wolfe remains among the fastest dogs in the kennel, and Ireland.
He ran in last weekend’s week’s Champion Stakes Final along with Totos Park. Although we were just happy to be there with Totos, I thought Wolfe would have had a very decent chance with the right draw. From trap four, given he isn’t the best breaker, he was always going to struggle to get a run. For all of his ability, he is very draw dependent.
As for other likely runners, we will hopefully have Murts Boher back. He looked an exceptional prospect last year when he won the Munster Puppy Cup but has had hock and track leg issues.
I am also excited about getting Newinn Lester back after his own problems. He has been off since a 27.98 run at Cork back in May, but his 18.58 trial at Shelbourne was very encouraging. Ballyhimikin Jet is another nice young dog who ran in the Produce and ran a very good second to Slippy Cian earlier in the month.
We also have a new dog running for the Lochead-Ponder-Whelan Syndicate – Lenson Bocko. He was originally called Melodys Dido and comes with an exceptional card that includes runs of 28.06 and 28.11 for 525 yards at Shelbourne and then won for us in 29.47 for the 550 last week.
I am still learning about him, but he was gleaming when he came into the kennel and looks a very exciting addition.
The Editor asked me to pick a couple from outside the kennel as serious Derby contenders, and although bitches don’t have great records in the Derby, I would have to edge towards Ballymac Araminta and Killmacdonagh.
They are both exceptional bitches who can take on the dogs and beat them fair and square. The closest we had in the kennel was Ballydoyle Honey who was capable of sub-28.00 form for 525 yards against bitches, but struggled to compete with the top dogs as the competition wore on, particularly because she didn’t quite have enough early.
That certainly isn’t the case with these two and I think they both have live chances to go a long way.
We have three runners in the Corn Cuchulainn semi finals, Slippery Jade, O Mahoney and Riverside Honey.
The last two are taking on the new 750 track record holder Redzer Ardfert. To beat him, we have to hope he misses his break because on-the-bunny, he is capable of 28.00 for the 525 yards. If he misses it, you never know. . .
We are considering bringing Honey over for the TV Trophy at Romford. I would love to run a few more entries in England, but financially it is hard to justify.
For example, it will cost roughly €700 for each trip to England, heats and final. We can’t justify, or don’t really need to trial her for a marathon but that is still €1,400. If she wins her heat and finishes second in the final, we would still be €150 down – and that is for one of the better prize money events.
In the past we’ve thought about running bitches in the Oaks, which is four journeys and probably £100 if you make the final and finish in the last three.
We have even thought about sending Honey over to friends and having them train her for Romford. That would cut down the exes. But then, she wouldn’t be an international and would have to run three qualifying trials.
We are happy to travel and take our chance, but you have to have a reasonable chance of covering your costs.
