Graham Cunningham looks on the positive side as Los Angeles served it up to his Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby rivals at the Curragh on Sunday.
Race is not for the Swift as LA shines in Kildare
They came from far and wide to witness a three-day spectacular.
But enough about Taylor Swift’s weekend Dublin takeover, what are we to make of racing’s latest dramatic mood swing veering from post-coital Royal Ascot bliss to a dose of Irish Derby day realism?
The mood music leading into the Curragh’s biggest weekend of the year had returned to cruel summer mode on both sides of the Irish Sea
Qipco withdrawing support for Newmarket’s Guineas Festival; Radio 4 binning its historic morning tips segment; Luke Comer having a doping appeal dismissed; and, to cap it all, the bizarre sight of Tony Martin emerging from his own anti-doping ban to give it large in the winner’s enclosure after Alphonse Le Grande’s Newcastle win.
And the hits keep on coming during the trip to Kildare.
Ruby Walsh and the RP’s Irish Editor Richard Forristal harrumph in print about punters having nine Sunday World Pool races “inflicted” on them as if arriving late or leaving early is a capital offence.
A bloodstock agent buttonholes me at the airport to bemoan the fact that “the arse is dropping out of the middle market.”
And young Lee Duffy at the Europcar desk waxes lyrical about days when his dad and all his football club pals used to “pile into a 60-seater coach and get on the gargle” for a race that drew a modern-day record crowd of over 31,000 when Hurricane Run and Kieren Fallon drew the sting from Aidan O’Brien’s 25/1 chance Scorpion in 2005.
Nearly twenty years on, the gargling contingent isn’t what it once was and the hoardings leading up to the Curragh trumpet food, style and fashion for “The Unmissable Irish Derby.”
Sharinay confirms Ronan Whelan’s view that he is “a stakes horse in a handicap” in the opener, while Henri Matisse upsets stablemate Tunbridge Wells and puts Aidan level with the mighty Vincent by giving him a 14th success in the G2 Railway Stakes.
Colin Keane and My Mate Alfie come out on top in a Listed dash run at an arse about face pace for hot favourite Commanche Falls, while Billy Lee ploughs a solo furrow to steal the Rockingham on Amazon Lady and Lord Massusus follows Gus Rodin by polishing White Birch’s Tatts Gold Cup form in the Colm McLoughlin Celebration Stakes.
And then comes an ‘unmissable’ Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby that can be viewed in two very different ways.
If your gargling glass is only half full then you could pine for days when crowds flocked to the Curragh to see champions like Montjeu, Sinndar, Galileo and High Chaparral.
You could join a defeatist chorus for the Derby trip to be reduced to ten furlongs and you might even worry that Dubai Duty Free’s long relationship with the Curragh might be at risk now the indomitable DDF supremo McLoughlin has decided to do what a fellow 81-year-old in America seems disinclined to do.
But on a day when the Euros, big GAA games and Tay Tay provided stern opposition, the sustained scrap between Los Angeles and Ambiente Friendly gave the gargle glass half full brigade plenty to shout about and provided a timely reminder that stamina and courage are every bit as important as flashy speed in the makeup of a Classic colt.
This was a race with no hiding place and, with the inside rail forcing horses to swing wider than usual into the straight, Ambiente Friendly loomed up to look a danger to all under Rab Havlin.
Shame on the wag who said “Seamie would never have given him that much room” while watching the gaps open but Ballydoyle’s team tactics were played out to perfection again, with Euphoric, Grosvenor Square and The Euphrates dropping away gradually as Los Angeles kept grinding to give Aidan a sweet sixteenth Irish Derby.
Can the winner be mentioned in the same breath as previous Aidan winners like Galileo, Dylan Thomas and High Chaparral?
Probably not. But he’s better than a few others (I’m looking at you, Frozen Fire and Santiago) and we might all be better off for accepting that you can’t have a superstar winner every year.
Aidan’s list of people to thank in the aftermath scaled new heights this time – even the people who produce the Ballydoyle hay and straw got a mention this time – and the show rolls on to Sandown next week when the much-vaunted City Of Troy takes on the blooming White Birch in the Coral-Eclipse.
In the meantime, it’s important to take on board that racing faces serious headwinds at present, some from without and others like the Martin farce that blow hard from within.
But I do worry that some of those who jump on racing like a seagull on chips nowadays are losing the ability to take any joy from a sport that delivers great tales way more often than some would like to admit.
True, tapping into the state of positive bliss that confirmed Swifties like Nick Luck speak of on returning from live shows is too daunting a target and there is some worrying Blank Space waiting to be filled in prime leadership roles afore long.
But the joy is still there if only you look for it.
All you need to do is take on the negativity and, how shall we say, Shake It Off?
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