Champions Weekend will take time to live up to its billing
WERE it not for the emotional victory of Skitter Scatter and the jubilant scenes that followed her Moyglare success yesterday, Irish Champions Weekend would have passed without the fanfare that its illustrious billing commands.
With a mind-boggling €4.6million up for grabs over the two-day meeting mixed between Leopardstown and the Curragh, it took a first Group One victory for Patrick Prendergast and Ronan Whelan to cause significant ripples of excitement.
While the likes of Ryan Moore, Seamie Heffernan and Wayne Lordan exemplified its importance by making a brisk exit from Doncaster’s St Leger meeting to jump on a plane and ride at Leopardstown just hours later, spectators haven’t really bought into the idea.
It would be foolish to analyse interest based on attendance alone but Saturday’s official attendance of 14,226 at the Foxrock track – up from 13,689 last season – doesn’t exactly blow you away considering the equine quality on show.
That includes an initiative which allowed third-level students to enter for free – which is either expert marketing or a sign of desperation to boost numbers – to watch the likes of Alpha Centauri and Roaring Lion.
Were it not for the aforementioned duo and the return of Kerry native Oisin Murphy to ride his first winners in Ireland, the opening day could have been a bit of washout as there was little to catch the imagination.
Contrast that with the Listowel Harvest Festival which concluded on Saturday. The two are poles apart given the clientele they aim to attract and the average age of attendees, but the Kerry track was thronged for seven days, while Leopardstown was comfortable to walk about.
It’s unfair to contrast attendances for Flat and National Hunt but Listowel – which is predominantly a jumps meeting – seems to have a winning formula, much like the Galway Festival which keeps punters coming back year after year.
That didn’t happen overnight either, however, and attracting those types of numbers is a gradual process. It takes time but having the second day at a glorified building site in the Curragh for the second year running is something of an own goal.
For all the marketing in the build-up, there was only ever going to be a certain amount of people let through the gates given the ongoing developments.
Now in its fifth year, Irish Champions Weekend was initiated to bring concentrated attention on Irish Flat racing and make it a permanent fixture in the international calendar; with aficionados are on the fence about whether it has been a success.
The fact that six of the 16 races were won by raiders, including Saturday’s two Group Ones and half of the four top-tier races contested yesterday, points to progress and the official re-opening of a complete Curragh next season will aid its cause.
The jumps boys clearly see potential in the idea to merge several big races into one meeting and have followed their lead with the Dublin Racing Festival getting off to a flyer on its debut last February, and given Ireland’s dominance in that sphere it is likely to go from strength to strength.
As of 9.0 last night, there was little sign of Irish Champions Weekend leaving its mark on social media as hashtags such as SeriousSupport, AllIrelandFinal, properfan and COYGIB dominating the narrative.
Therein lies a major problem facing Flat racing on these shores. While there is an unbelievable product out there waiting to be discovered, there’s doubt about whether the audience or the interest is there for it to be maximised and turned into something memorable for the casual fan.
It is hoped that the Curragh’s completion will see a fresh boost but there are significant developments planned for Leopardstown which may halt that progress and the same challenge faces racing’s chiefs.
Once the novelty of new surroundings at Irish HQ wears off, will the attention of the once-a-year racing supporter be attracted given that the game seems to be drifting away from its roots? As of yet, Champions Weekend has done little to alter that.
That’s not to say it can’t be a success, however, and a lot of the ingredients are present to make it a permanent staple of the racing year. Having four Group Ones yesterday doesn’t guarantee that though.
There are several missing pieces of the jigsaw, finding those will be the key to its future but it deserves time before being harshly assessed.