Irish spoilsports
Robin Oakley
The Irish show enough enthusiasm for the ‘jumping Olympics’ at Cheltenham in March. Horses, trainers and punters come over in their hordes. For this year’s Epsom Derby it is a different matter. Two of Ireland’s leading trainers are effectively boycotting Epsom with horses which, if they were to run, would be vying for favouritism.
Jim Bolger, trainer of New Approach, who has finished second in the English and Irish 2000 Guineas and who was the winter favourite for the race, says the horse will go for the Irish Derby at The Curragh rather than running at Epsom. Dermot Weld, trainer of Casual Conquest, the impressive six-length winner of the Derrinstown Stud Stakes, one of the best pointers to Epsom prospects in recent years, is complaining about the £75,000 required at this stage to ‘supplement’ the colt for Epsom (that is, to enter him at a later stage than others for an added fee). He, too, says that he would rather run him in Ireland or France. Coming on top of Epsom’s troubles in finding a new long-term sponsor for the Derby after Vodafone pulled out of that role 16 months ago the defections of leading Irish contenders are a blow to the prestige of the annual ‘scurry over Surrey’. What was even worse was that Bolger, who insists that New Approach’s five victories as an unbeaten twoyear-old have already established his stud value, went on to add, ‘I don’t think Epsom necessarily does all that much for a prospective stallion career.’ The Epsom authorities have been admirably diplomatic and failed to cross swords with Bolger but that is fighting talk which needs to be challenged.
For a start, New Approach was himself sired, like Bolger’s earlier two-year-old star Teofilo, by the Derby winner Galileo. And, while Jim Bolger is an extremely able Irish trainer, he is not, yet, at the level of the great Vincent O’Brien who declared that the six victories he enjoyed in the Blue Riband of the turf at Epsom were the six greatest thrills of his life. That opinion holds internationally. American owners and breeders still queue up to get the chance of owning a Derby winner, and it was one of them, John Galbreath, who declared after winning the race with Roberto in 1972, ‘Anyone who doesn’t consider the Epsom Derby one of the greatest sporting events in the world must be out of his mind.’ The great Italian breeder Federico Tesio went further, declaring, ‘The thoroughbred exists because its selection has depended not on experts, technicians or zoologists, but on a piece of wood — the winning post of the Epsom Derby.’ Watching New Approach being ‘ponied’ down to the start of the Irish 2000 Guineas by a stable companion to keep him calm led me to suspect that Jim Bolger’s motivation in ducking Epsom with the horse which Sheikh Mohammed bought for his wife Princess Haya of Jordan but whose racing programme he has left to his Irish handler may well be an altogether different one. Epsom amid the celebrations on Derby Day is not just a test of a horse’s speed and stamina but of its temperament too: Jim Bolger may well be afraid that his horse may ‘boil over’ and lose his race at Epsom even before the starting gates have opened for the dash up to Tattenham Corner.
Dermot Weld, it seems to me, has a much more reasonable case for avoiding Epsom with Casual Conquest, a big, long-striding horse who may well not be suited to the track. In days when there are worries that racing thoroughbreds are not as sound as they used to be that is a legitimate cause for ducking the Derby proper. But in that case why not keep his comments to that aspect rather than suggesting that Epsom’s demand for the late-entry supplement is a deciding factor?
Supplements for late entry into big races are standard practice. That said, if Casual Conquest was owned by the farmer up the road in County Carlow the £75,000 fee might be a real factor. But Casual Conquest runs in the colours of the Moyglare Stud, owned by Swiss-based Walter Haefner, a 97-year-old who is rated one of the 150 richest men in the world. Perhaps Mr Weld should be reminded that connections had to spend £90,000 supplementing Kris Kin in 2003 and Sir Michael Stoute won the race with him.
Whether or not Casual Conquest’s connections take the plunge, the Epsom Derby will survive this year’s sniping from the Emerald Isle. And one key factor in that is the attitude taken by the most important force in Irish racing, the Coolmore operation headed by John Magnier, with the incomparable Aidan O’Brien as their trainer. Aidan sent no fewer than eight of his horses to contest the Epsom Derby last year, and he told the Racing Post amid the current controversy, ‘The Derby has been an important race for Coolmore down the years with a lot of the horses who went on to do well as stallions going there.’ Magnier has put it more succinctly: ‘Epsom is what it’s all about.’ These words are written in the 24 hours following Henrythenavigator’s facile defeat of Jim Bolger’s New Approach in the Irish 2000 Guineas, with no clear word from Team Coolmore at this stage as to whether Henrythenavigator will run at Epsom. On his pedigree it is less certain that such a speedy son of Kingmambo will stay the one and a half miles. But it would be an exciting and sporting gamble if he does participate. And if the Irish-trained Henrythenavigator wins at Epsom the victory would be loudly cheered by all those with the interests of English racing, and the Derby, at heart.
Previous page
