Season is cut short
Early end a ‘seismic economic blow’
HORSE RACING Ireland (HRI) has called a halt to the 20192020 jumps season a full month before its usual end, and two of the biggest attractions of the year have been lost: the €500k 150th Boylesport Irish Grand National, and the €3.2 million Punchestown Festival featuring a whole host of Grade 1 races.
Apart from the National, these races will not be rescheduled.
No date has been fixed for the start of the summer jumps programme, but it will be a while as it has been decided that when racing is allowed again, probably behind closed doors initially, the first month will be devoted to flat racing.
HRI chief executive Brian Kavanagh said that work was continuing on a target date for the resumption of racing on the flat, and he warned of the economic implications for the racing industry of the disruptions.
‘Like many other sectors, the racing and breeding industry in Ireland will take a seismic economic blow from the fall-out of Covid-19,’ he said.
The British Horse Racing Authority has adopted a similar strategy, and they have decided that the jumps will not resume over there until July 1.
If we follow suit, Wexford’s Bettyville racecourse will be badly hit as the meetings fixed for April 3 (last Friday), May 16 and 22, and June 3 and 17, will all be lost, almost half the year’s fixtures.
A strengthened autumn programme has been promised, including the Grand National, and Wexford will surely be allocated a couple of extra dates.
The National was due to be run at Fairyhouse as is traditional on Easter Monday next, and this will revive great memories of 2018 for J.J. Slevin who gave Gordon Elliott his first win in the race when getting up on the line on 20/1 shot, General Principle.
I have to say I was not that surprised by the decisions, though I was accused by some of undue pessimism when I gave that opinion in this column last week.
For official purposes, the season ended at Clonmel on March 24 and the standings then decided who won the various championships.
Unsurprisingly, 63 years old Willie Mullins is leading trainer for the 14th time in all, and for the 13th season in a row, since he began training in 1988.
Gordon Elliott filled the runner-up spot for the eighth year in a row, just a little over €100k behind Mullins, who also trained most winners, 165 to Elliott’s 157.
Paul Nolan was ninth in the trainers’ table with 13 horses providing him with 15 winners and over €400,000 in prize money, while Liz Doyle was in 19th place (on prize money of €177,000 ) with eleven winners (from ten different horses).
Paul Townend retained the jockeys’ title with 104 winners, from Davy Russell (69) and Rachael Blackmore (48).
Pat Mullins was leading amateur once again, and leading conditional was Darragh O’Keeffe (48).
It was a great year for the Wexford riders, with five of them finishing in the top 16 in the table from a field of almost 140 winning riders.
Jonathan Moore (Adamstown) led the way in eighth place on 38 winners.
He had a career-reviving season after his appointment as stable jockey for Gavin Cromwell, for whom he rode 33 of those winners.
Seán Flanagan, despite some injury interruptions, was tenth on 36 winners, half of them for Noel Meade.
J.J. Slevin (Caim) was another who had his fair share of troublesome injuries and finished 14th on 29, 23 of them for Joseph O’Brien, his first cousin.
He was just ahead of Seán O’Keeffe, the very busy claimer from Taghmon, who was 15th with 27 winners, earning over half a million in prize money, and he impressed many keen judges.
He was one place ahead of the evergreen Jamie Codd in 16th with 24 winners (at 22% the third best strike rate of the season).
Point-to-point champion Barry O’Neill deserves a mention – he concentrates mostly on the points but he did have eight winners on the track from just over 60 rides.