Ed Chamberlin on four dramatic days of action

We’re very appreciative of RMG allowing us to show the big Irish races to a terrestrial TV audience and we’re in for a real treat in the months ahead.

The Clonmel Oil Chase won’t go down as a vintage renewal but it was dominated by Willie Mullins as Bachasson led home a stable one-two when beating Cialos Emery. I’d imagine he soon traded at a short price as it was clear he was making it a real stamina test in front and he was just too strong for his stablemate on the day.

I was thrilled to read afterwards that Willie had joined the Sporting Life stable of writers and even more delighted that they’re sponsoring the Arkle Challenge Trophy at Cheltenham. In these desperate times we need to appreciate every sponsor who continues to support horse racing and these are really exciting times to be part of the Sporting Life family.

A big part of my mindset is trying to visit and help the smaller tracks in good times and bad and it was a pleasure to be at Taunton on Thursday too.

Sadly the day was marred by the incident in which Alex Thorne forgot to weigh in after winning on Twin Star. It was so sad. He’d given the horse a good ride – and Luke Harvey a brilliant interview – then to hear what happened was really dispiriting.

The social media response afterwards – and the abuse aimed at Luke – was outrageous. Interviews like this have happened after races ever since I can remember, and on an almost daily basis on the satellite channels.

Failing to weigh-in is such a freak occurrence but I don’t think people realise how difficult the current protocols are for people in the sport. These aren’t normal times.

The interview was recorded. Alex wasn’t held up in any way and had we waited until after he’d weighed in he might not have come back out and we might have moved on to the next race.

TV can be such great exposure for a young rider. Look at Oli Bell’s interview with Sam Lee on Saturday. He spoke of how things weren’t going his way at the moment, how he could do with a big winner. He was so engaging, humble and self-deprecating. He came across as a lovely young man and might be in need of a new agent. He’s a star.

Our viewing figures that day were enormous, up 250,000 on 2019 to over a million, and those people will have been blown away by Sam.

Nico de Boinville is often criticised for being dour and wasn’t it wonderful to see him jousting with Luke down at the start before riding On The Blind Side to victory. I really enjoy the coverage just before the tapes go up, showing some of the personalities behind the goggles and the masks.

But some of the social media abuse that has been handed out this week has been outrageous.

Seeing Rishi Persad talk about some aimed in his direction after his interview with Josh Apiafi as part of Sky Sports Racing’s Leading The Way Series was horrific.

All he’d done was raise some pertinent and sensible comments and it makes you wonder if these platforms need to take a look at how they’re policed. Twitter has some great aspects to it but it can also be vile and poisonous as we’ve seen on a number of occasions this weekend.

Anyone who accused Rishi of trying to create a headline have clearly never met him. He’s one of the best broadcasters in sport, a dedicated professional and as nice a man as you could meet.

Back to the racing and Friday marked my first visit to Cheltenham since the Festival in March and of all the racecourses, this is the one I found most sad, the most empty if you like, without a crowd.

What you associate with Cheltennham is that cauldron of noise, the wonderful atmosphere, so to see the giant concrete stand empty was the saddest racing sight of lockdown so far.

These are usually three vibrant days with people starting their Christmas shopping and enjoying Countryside Day and Family Fun Day on the Sunday. In 2020 all three were desolate.

But again I hope people were able to enjoy the action with us on TV and Friday’s Glenfarclas Cross-Country Chase was anything but uneventful. Full marks must go to the Scudamores and Kingswell Theatre produced a brilliant performance to win the race for the second time but Easysland just didn’t show up and I do worry my beloved Tiger Roll may have lost his mojo.

It’s always a fear with a horse when they’ve had a very hard race and Tiger doesn’t know how to do anything other than try his heart out. But I just wonder what effect trying to challenge Easysland on ground he hated in the big one in March might have had.

I sincerely hope I’m wrong and he’ll have a full MOT next week and has always been a spring horse after all but there is now a little nagging doubt in the back of my mind over him.

I questioned what the future holds of Defi Du Seuil too after he pulled up in the Shloer Chase on Sunday. He’s younger than Tiger and has time on his side but neither horse owes anyone anything and are owned by people who will know what it’s time to call it a day and never ask them to do more than they should.

The November Meeting usually throws up a clutch of Festival winners the following March but I’m struggling to be overly confident this time around. The Skeltons have a nice novice chaser in Protektorat who won well on Friday but the horse of theirs to put in your tracker is definitely Wild Romance.

The performance of the week was undoubtedly Coole Cody winning the Paddy Power Gold Cup. It was a fascinating race to watch in the company of three men who’d won it, Sir Anthony McCoy, Ruby Walsh and Mick Fitzgerald.

The way the winner was lit up by a loose horse and jumped his fences like they were hurdles even had the hard-as-nails, 20-time champion jockey, wincing at times.

I thought some of Ruby’s analysis was brilliant. My instructions to him are to always tell the viewers something they don’t know. The way he dissected Simply The Betts’ chance before the race was superb and it unfolded as he feared, the horse making mistakes and then being done for speed later in the race.

Having put up Spiritofthegames on the Sporting Life Racing Podcast in midweek I was relieved to see him make the frame although connections will be frustrated to have hit the Cheltenham cross bar yet again.

We have to mention the great run of Kauto Riko in fourth too, a wonderful effort for the Grettons and it was great to a small team doing so well on the big stage.

By 3.45 on Saturday the weather took a severe turn for the worse and we all know what followed with the photo finish to the mares’ bumper.

There was hysteria on Twitter after a dead-heat was announced and the print revealed. There is every chance the nearside horse, Ishkara Lady, won. That said I can see why the decision was made to call it a dead-heat.

If you announce a winner you have to be able to explain to the connections of the runner-up why and provide the evidence. In any appeal or court of law you can’t say that was there from that grainy, dark photograph we had.

I’m not saying the judge was right or wrong but I can understand why he came to the decision. Clearly lessons need to be learned about the quality of the equipment used and timing of races, particularly in lockdown when the arrival and departure of crowds sadly aren’t relevant.

Two horses to take out of the weekend are the Tizzard novice chasers Eldorado Allen and The Big Breakaway. It gave me great pleasure to see those performances after the team have suffered so much over the last three months. They are the ultimate family operation and to lose Kim so tragically was awful.

It would be wonderful to see Lostintranslation win a second Betfair Chase for them next week after what all connections of the horse have gone through.

AP loved The Big Breakaway and you sense he’s a horse he’d have loved to ride. He can be a lairy so and so (horse not pundit) but has a massive engine. Who knows what would have happened in the From The Horse's Mouth Podcast Novices' Chase on Saturday had Gumball stood up but Eldorado Allen is a talented horse who is going to get better and better.

Put The Kettle on made it three from three at Cheltenham in winning the Shloer Chase which sadly fell slightly apart with the non-runners, but she just keeps winning and is starting to get the credit she deserves.

With doubts over a few of the contenders towards the top of the market, she’s definitely a player for the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase back here in March.

Over in Ireland the Unibet Morgiana Hurdle threw up plenty of drama with Sir Anthony explaining how everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong for runner-up Saint Roi.

His Unibet Champion Hurdle dream remains alive and he probably should have won but credit to Abacadabras who pricked his ears and didn’t do a jot in front. He’s always going to cruise through these big races and it’s just a question of what he’s going to find off the bridle.

It’s a shame for him that much of the press coverage will centre on the runner-up but both horses are potential players in the big two-mile hurdles.

In many ways it was a race typical of our four-day journey across Ireland and England with drama and incidents aplenty. There was sadness too as we didn’t have the annual members or punters there to make it special. We hope our coverage did at least help put a few smiles on faces.