It's Betfair Sprint Cup weekend at Graham Cunningham's beloved Haydock Park and our man is in reflective mood before getting on the front foot over some recent stewarding decisions.
Sprint Cup Saturday still a signature moment
Listen kids, if your old dad ever hands you an autographed racecard that means something to him, take good care of it.
The one with ‘Peter O’Sullevan, Be Friendly’ scribbled on the cover that my old man was so proud of meant little to me as a kid. Pedro was a long way off being knighted back then but the star sprinter he referenced had already won the first two renewals of Haydock’s Vernons Sprint Cup (1966 and 1967) in his black and yellow silks and the biggest race at our local track has provided some striking memories down the years.
I was just old enough to bet legally as Geoff Lewis came out of retirement to ride Double Form to victory when the race was switched from its traditional November slot to September in 1979. The day was made when my favourite rider signed his name on the back of my cardboard betting ticket and, though the autograph habit waned, the link with the race has endured.
Moorestyle and Habibti were exceptional winners in 1980 and 1983 over Haydock’s tricky, turning six-furlong track, while Green Desert prevailed when the race was switched to a new straight course in 1986 with Ajdal and Danehill following suit in ’87 and ’89.
The spectacular Dayjur put up the most dominant display of controlled aggression ever seen at Haydock when coming clear with subsequent Breeders’ Cup Mile hero Royal Academy in 1990, while Sheikh Albadou followed his BC Sprint win of 1991 by galloping to Haydock glory the following year.
But brilliance can sometimes be trumped by the raw emotion of real-world events. A minute of solemn silence was followed by 75 seconds of Royal Applause when the Sprint Cup was brought forward by 24 hours in respect for Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997.
That poignant win came for the father and son duo of Barry and Michael Hills, while Regal Parade’s success for Dandy and Adrian Nicholls in 2009 came just hours after teenage Malton apprentices Jan Wilson and Jamie Kyne had been killed in a tragic arson attack.
Star three-year-olds like Dream Ahead and Harry Angel plus popular old stagers like Gordon Lord Byron and The Tin Man have earned G1 stripes on the first Saturday in September over the last decade and, with crowds back in force and decent weather forecast, Starman should have no excuses this weekend as he bids to add to his July Cup win.
No-one seems to ask for autographs now the selfie age has taken over. Still, if you’re at Haydock and lucky enough to back the winner, maybe it’s worth getting the racecard signed by one of the key players. It might not mean a lot now. But I’d give plenty to rediscover that Be Friendly card now the auld fella is no longer here.
Zlatan verdict an own goal for British stewarding
"There has been no policy shift or direction in relation to how stewards should deal with matters."
BHA Chief Regulatory Officer Brant Dunshea denied that there is ongoing climate change in the way his stewarding team handles interference cases on Wednesday, telling Nick Luck’s influential Daily Podcast that the ruling body’s approach has remained unchanged for years.
But, away from the corporate offices of High Holborn, the drip-drip effect of precedents being set by the Aussie Commissar’s raceday team is telling a rather different tale.
One weekend represents a small sample, right enough, but events at Ffos las and Goodwood last Friday and Sunday were perplexing.
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The fact that the Ffos las panel tossed two winners on the same card is neither here nor there. The stewards were within their rights to demote Alhezabr for bumping into Lexington Fury in the mile maiden, but their decision to demote Out From Under in the novice event (watch now for FREE above) was highly questionable given that he was clearly mastering Evocative Spark when edging across him in the final strides.
And then we come to the decision to demote Zlatan in favour of Luna Magic in Sunday’s opening amateur jockeys’ handicap at Goodwood even though he never came close to touching the runner-up.
That verdict was reached by three of the BHA’s most experienced operatives, including Head of Stewarding Shaun Parker, but that doesn’t render it immune to criticism.
The official report stated that “the interference had improved the placing of Zlatan in that it had drifted left-handed carrying Luna Magic notable off its intended line.”
Leaving aside the fact that referring to racehorses as “it” needs to get in the sea, the head-on replay suggests that Luna Magic was inclining to drift left of his own accord.
One experienced rules expert described the demotion as “horrible” but the upshot is that we now have a precedent which states that a winner can be taken down even in a case where the issue of whether he caused any interference is highly debateable.
So where do we go from here? The fact that neither of last weekend’s controversial cases will go to appeal is regrettable, though unsurprising given the lowly prize money involved.
And the fact that this year’s data suggests that stewards have been appreciably more willing to demote horses must be weighed against the fact that no two years ever present a set of identical cases.
Dunshea concedes that even experienced observers can interpret similar cases differently. He’s dead right, of course, but the attitudes of judges and tribunal personnel in all walks of life evolve over time and the feeling persists that the scales of British racing justice are undergoing a subtle yet significant shift.
To paraphrase a famous American legal saying, the court should be influenced by the climate of the era rather than the weather of the day.
For long enough, racing’s weather of the day definitely aided the offender. But, whatever the boss might say, it seems the climate of the current era is becoming kinder to the so-called sufferer.
TRL bows out – but will it be back?
It’s time to bid adieu to the League, the Racing League, after Newcastle stages the final fixture of its inaugural season on Thursday night.
I’ll miss Jamie Osborne’s nutty videos and suggestions that the RP haven’t been giving the League the attention it so richly deserves and the weekly pics of Team Thoroughbid guv’nor Cornelius Lysaght gazing lovingly at the leaderboard as his happy crew occupies that lucrative top spot.
But I won’t miss the evangelical zeal of the the SSR telecasts or the collateral damage caused to the rest of the racing calendar by parachuting 36 new valuable handicaps into a summer window when field sizes are already under severe pressure.
There is no question that TRL has brought some positive things to the table, not least the creation of opportunity for middle-ranking owners and jockeys to race for decent money.
But the team element which looked a turkey from the start has proved exactly that and it's sad to say that a well-meaning venture that was intended to promote racing to a new audience seems to have ended up as more of a well-rewarded industry sideshow for those invited to be part of it.
A 'lessons will be learned' mantra from a chief marketing officer is obligatory whenever a venture such as this endures a troubled start and TRL’s spokesperson Oli Harris is talking a good game about plans for 2022.
But let’s not fret too much if the TRL pilot doesn’t lead to season two. Every other scribbler in the racing media has been giving chapter and verse on how to fix racing since the post-coital glow of Ebor week wore off.
The packed enclosures at Goodwood, Beverley, Cartmel and Newmarket last weekend suggests there isn't that much that is broken apart from the prize money and small fields issues. And, if all else fails, we always have the long-delayed City Racing venture run by the Queen’s grandson Peter Phillips to fall back on.
Sir Tom struts his stuff without a horse in sight
Sir Tom Jones played to a packed house of 14,000 people at Haydock Park last Saturday night.
‘It’s Not Unusual’ would be an appropriate response to such a statement given that the wrinkly rocker is a firm favourite on the racecourse circuit but this was a stand-alone music night and the first such event at Haydock since Simply Red performed as part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s testimonial year in 1999.
Haydock boss Dickon White has become well used to balancing the interests of regular racegoers with music lovers over the years but has no plans to separate church from state on a permanent basis.
“Sir Tom’s concert was rearranged from his intended appearance after a Saturday evening meeting in June and, despite a few staffing challenges, it went off really well,” he said.
“We would certainly look at having the occasional stand-alone concert again for the right artist but all our data shows that having an act on after racing is a great way of introducing people to the sport and our focus remains on running the two things together.”
HK stars ready to shine again
Lastly this week, two brief mentions for one door that is about to close and another that is about to open.
If you are concerned that the BHA’s Whip Consultation Steering Group has been set up to steer whip change in a certain direction then you might want to offer your thoughts as part of a public survey by visiting the BHA website before midnight on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Cunningham File is about to diversify with a concise bi-weekly piece focussing on the Hong Kong beat. The new HK season gets off to a flyer at Sha Tin on Sunday and the first edition of the HK File will be available on sportinglife.com on Friday evening.
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