Dunne given deadline
No such thing as a quiet start to the New Year, not in the world of horse racing.
On Thursday it was announced that Robbie Dunne has seven days in which to appeal the findings of the independent disciplinary panel of the British Horseracing Authority that ruled he bullied and harassed Bryony Frost.
Dunne was banned for 18 months, three of which were suspended, after being judged to have engaged in conduct at the track, online and in the weighing room that was prejudicial to the integrity, proper conduct and good reputation of the sport.
The written reasons for the ruling, published this week, concluded that it was a “deliberate, unwarranted targeting of a colleague over a considerable time” and that “the strikingly aggravating feature was the determined consistency, in the knowledge that Ms Frost could not prepare herself for what would come next, as she was unable to predict what or where it would be".
Dunne and his legal advisers have yet to indicate whether they intend to appeal, having originally suggested it was likely when the verdict was first handed down.
The BHA have also vowed to “carefully consider all points raised by the panel” on matters such as raceday stewarding and leaks to the media, which at one time had threatened the investigation itself.
The episode shone a beacon – let alone a light – on the divisions within the sport, particularly in the immediate aftermath of the punishment being handed down. The notion was that those of us outside the inner sanctum, not actively involved in the heart of racing, didn’t really understand what had gone on.
Nothing to see, shake hands and move on, seemed to the mantra.
It’s to Bryony Frost’s eternal credit she didn’t. If racing wants to be considered a major sport in this country, one that sits alongside the likes of football, cricket and rugby in the nation’s consciousness, then it can’t shield itself from scrutiny. We need to be bigger and better than that. And the days when the weighing room policed itself are over.
What now for British jumps racing?
The BHA has had a busy old week. It might have passed you by at the time but Irish trainers enjoyed a very successful Cheltenham Festival in March, winning 23 of the 28 races. No, honestly, they did.
One word. Crisis. So the Quality Jump Racing Review Group was formed, looking at what can be done to overhaul the winter game in poor old Britain.
Its aim is to “strengthen the performance of British jump racing at the top end of the pyramid”. Owners, trainers, racecourses (I presume executives thereof), broadcasters, and bookmaker representatives have all been involved.
Ruth Quinn, in a blog on the BHA website, outlined the five aims, which the QJRRG (one hell of a bad hand on Scrabble) regard as being inextricably linked and of equal importance. They are:
- To see Britain’s best horses more regularly running against each other outside of the Cheltenham Festival;
- To make Britain’s best horses and stables more competitive against those representing Ireland;
- To encourage more of the sport’s highest-investing owners to have their horses trained in Britain;
- To neutralise prize-money as a consideration for owners when decisions are taken about whether a horse is trained in Britain or Ireland;
- To produce a race programme that is consistently more engaging to punters, fans, the media and racegoers.
And to help achieve these aims, they recommended that, as a sport, we must:
- Incentivise greater competition between the sport’s leading horses in all divisions by implementing significant changes to the jump Pattern and Listed programme, focusing primarily on enhancing and refining of Britain’s Graded and Listed races;
- Deliver a significant prize-money increase for British jump racing, with suggested measures to include the setting of increased minimum prize-money levels that encourage owners and trainers to run horses and also reward those racecourses most willing to invest in purses.
Now these all look good on paper and make perfect sense, but they primarily amount to one thing – a complete change in mindset from trainers, owners, racecourses et al.
How do we measure success?
And to do that the measure of success can’t be – Phil Tufnell please avert your gaze – the Prestbury Cup scoreboard.
The number of runs per season, from October 1 to the eve of the Festival, of the top-20-rated British chasers and hurdlers per season would be one key metric, as would the number of jumps horses in training.
They’re not all going to give Tuffers a March selection headache, but we know how popular the National Hunt game remains – just look at the ITV viewing figures over Christmas for further evidence.
But we all need to accept change. When the entries for the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Ryanair Chase were unveiled this week the name Frodon didn’t appear among them. No injury setback, rather connections have decided he’s better suited to a trip to the Dublin Racing Festival and other Grade One pots.
A sensible move, surely, from Paul Nicholls, who has no peers as a target trainer. But wait, no, a David Jennings column on racingpost.com is teased with 'No Frodon? I'm sorry Paul but you're wrong here - you're overthinking things'.
He’s certainly thinking differently – but that’s exactly what the QJRRG (could work that on the front of a baseball cap) want. And rightly so. In the immediate aftermath of Bravemansgame’s win in the Kauto Star the champion trainer said if it was down to him he’d miss Cheltenham this year and go to Aintree for the Grade One novice chase there. It suited the horse better.
The owners overruled and Prestbury Park remains the destination. He might well win in that debate but ‘overthinking’ Nicholls wasn’t drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
And surely the home trainers are going to target as many Grade Ones outside the four white-hot March days as they can. Make hay while the Irish behemoths stay in their box and prepare for their own domestic battles.
Is Irish domination purely cyclical?
Some are prepared to put the current domination simply down to the cyclical nature of racing, the wheel will turn again, and before we know it frenzied reviews will be the domain of Horseracing Ireland again.
But for that to happen the best horses need to be trained on these shores. It’s as simple as that.
There’s an irony that the two shortest-priced home-trained favourites for Festival races, Shishkin and Jonbon, are owned by Irishmen in Joe Donnelly and JP McManus respectively. Imagine where we’d be if they decided to concentrate their resources solely on domestic matters?
And do we really think there’s a battalion of owners waiting to send horses to the UK if only we have more Grade One prizes and even a mid-winter Festival to rival the Dublin Racing Festival (or DRF for cap manufacturers)?
Success breeds success and people want to be associated with it. Training is about fashion and right now the hotlist is centred around Closutton, County Waterford and Cullentra.
Thankfully we still have owners heavily investing in horses trained in the UK, but sourcing the next generation of stars? Well that’s difficult.
The Irish point-to-point fields are now the nursery for so many, and it stands to reason that trainers in Ireland are the first to be alerted to potential must-have items. Irish store horses have traditionally been the bedrock of jumps racing. But the days when they’d be bought at Goffs then put in a field for a couple of years before connections begin to discover what they've got are gone.
Points have been a source of riches – not just for trainers, but for vendors. When the prices at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale rival those for blue-blooded yearlings at Book One, then you know the game has changed.
Willie Mullins didn’t have any runners at Cheltenham’s International Meeting in December, but he was a fleeting visitor at Prestbury Park. Flying over for the sale, and back home the same Friday evening, he landed back in Dublin with six new recruits having paid out just over one million guineas.
And you’d imagine he wasn’t shooting in the dark when it came to his shortlist.
So finding the stars is going to be difficult.
Richard Hoiles alluded to it on an interesting section of Saturday’s The Opening Show. Basically, the racing structure is a game of blocks. As the established stars retire or their powers wane, the next row moves up. And at the moment the bottom of the pyramid is dominated by Irish horses.
It might be cyclical – but this one looks substantial. Hence the need to judge the success of the QJRRG objectives, if they are to be implemented, away from who’s on the winners’ podium at Cheltenham.
Anyway – we had a Grade One on Saturday. Won in scintillating style by a six-figure purchase from the Irish point-to-point field. Constitution Hill cost about five times less than stablemate Jonbon but, after beating Jetoile by 12 lengths with a full petrol tank, is challenging him at the head of the market for the Sky Bet Supreme.
For Michael Buckley and the Seven Barrows team the dream remains alive, and it's that dream we need to start selling – fast.
