Westover and Colin Keane win the Irish Derby in front of an almost full Curragh© Photo Healy Racing
Attendances are a lasting barometer to judge the success and relevance of a venue or event. Looking back at some RTÉ footage last week of Lester Piggott’s association with the Irish Derby at the Curragh it was evident just how big a deal the event was in years gone by. The race attracted huge crowds from the 1960s through to the 1980s. One year in particular when Jackie Kennedy turned up over 60,000 people came to watch.
Even into the 1990s the race regularly saw crowds well in excess of 25,000 at the Curragh for Ireland’s premier Classic.
The admission prices, facilities and to some extent the horses that ran in those years are now irrelevant as all that really counts is that the event attracted huge crowds and that alone has a lasting significance.
11,300 people attended the Irish Derby in 2022. To put this number into some sort of context it’s slightly more than attended the second leg of Irish Champions Weekend at the Curragh in 2019 (the last time there were unrestricted crowds at the venue), but represents only one of quarter of the crowd that attended the Friday of the Punchestown Festival only a few weeks ago. There can be little doubt that National Hunt racing has become far more popular in Ireland than the Flat as a spectator event and that is possibly at the root of the issue for the Curragh.
Ultimately, those that run and own the Curragh probably won’t be too bothered by the small numbers at their flagship race, afterall the newly developed Curragh wasn’t built with large crowds in mind. The new stand has a capacity of just 6,000. Even the outside areas within the enclosure can only cater for another 8,000 or so at a squeeze.
It will be for future generations to decide the significance of the modern Irish Derby, but as long as 11,300 is close to capacity it will be hard for it to compete with the heady days of yesteryear.
For once the weather wasn’t a problem on Derby Day. Despite a bleak forecast earlier in the week which had promised rain throughout the day, the sun actually came out and even a blustery wind failed to spoil the occasion as the ‘whistling’ roof stayed silent.
Colin Keane and Ger Lyons had a quiet first half to the season by their own high standards and it was beginning to impact on Keane’s chances of retaining his Jockeys’ Championship.
Going into Derby weekend at the midpoint of the season Keane trailed pacesetter Billy Lee by four wins. That all changed on Friday evening at the opening session of Derby weekend when Keane banged in four winners (three for Lyons) to draw level and show why he is the reigning Champion.
27-year-old Keane then added a first Irish Derby to his CV when steering Westover to an impressive success on Saturday. Keane is a class act and it was no surprise he was quick to pay tribute to the jockey he replaced aboard the English raider in the post race interviews, praising Rob Hornby for his crucial advice in how to approach the race. “Full dues to Rob, I rang him this morning and he told me everything I needed to know about the horse, a true gentleman. He said the horse gets the trip well and he’ll get further, so don’t be afraid to use him up.”
Keane won his third Jockeys’ Championship by a massive margin last season when notching 58 winners more than his nearest rival but he looks to have a fight on his hands this time as Lee himself rode doubles on Saturday and Sunday to end the weekend with three to spare over the Champion.
Westover’s seven length demolition of his opposition in the big race probably told us as much about the lack of quality in the field as it did about his abilities, but he is certainly an exciting colt for the second half of the season. His victory has moved him up to second favourite behind his Epsom conqueror Desert Charm in the Ante-post betting for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, a race that may also end up as a target for Paddy Twomey’s La Petite Coco after her impressive seasonal debut in the Pretty Polly Stakes.
By my reckoning this was the first Irish Derby since Winged Love won the race 1995 that Aidan O’Brien didn’t have a horse finish in the first three, by coincidence it was also the first time he didn’t run a colt in the race since that year. This was also the first Irish Derby weekend in living memory that Kevin Prendergast didn’t have a single runner over the three days.
It was a relatively quiet weekend on the stewarding front with no riding infringements taking place across the three days action yet the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board still managed to come away with a right old mess on its hands after an incident on Sunday which saw Rosscarbery disqualified from third place in the Group One Pretty Polly Stakes and the matter referred on to their CEO for further investigation.
The gist of the problem was that Wayne Lordan presented himself to weigh-out for the race and the clerk of the scales, Hugh Hynes, said he was 5lbs too heavy and instructed him to remove lead from his saddle cloth. Lordan removed 5lbs of lead and got back on to the scales and was passed to ride at the correct weight. When Lordan returned to weigh-in after finishing third aboard Rosscarbery he stood on the scales again and was now 5lbs lighter than he was supposed to be.
At this point the clerk of the scales and stewards had no option but to disqualify the horse. Obviously, it appears that Lordan may have had the correct weight initially and removing the lead on the instructions of the clerk of the scales caused the problem but that has not yet been determined.
The stewards referred the matter on to their CEO for further investigation, but the bottom line is that Roscarberry carried 5lbs less than she was supposed to during the race so it's impossible to see how she can be reinstated. This has significant consequences for the owners of the filly who have lost out on a Group One placing that will have a direct impact on the value of their horse.
Whatever hit the IHRB coffers may have to take over that mix up if the error is found to be on their side, their stewards also made recommendations after an incident on Friday evening that could see significant extra costs put on the staging of race meetings going forward. Two horses were withdrawn at the start from a race on Friday and, as there is only one Blue Cross Horse Ambulance in attendance at race meetings, one of the horses had to be walked back to the stableyard rather than travelling in the Ambulance.
The stewards “deemed this to be unacceptable and were of the opinion there should be two Blue Cross Horse Ambulances in attendance at each race meeting so they referred the matter to the CEO of the IHRB for further investigation.”
Considering there are two ambulances for humans in attendance at every race meeting it seems to make sense that the horses, which are far more prone to injury, should at least have a similar level of care. That said, there is only a finite amount of resources available and should it be decided that a second Blue Cross Horse Ambulance is essential at all race meetings the money may have to be found by cutting back on something else which is not ideal.
