They’re flat out in search of winners
The Flat season kicks off on Saturday when Morando is favourite for the Lincoln handicap at Doncaster. here Racing Correspondent Marcus
Townend looks at the six big issues topping the agenda.
WHO CAN CHALLENGE AIDAN O’BRIEN?
LaSt year aidan O’Brien did not just win the British trainers’ championship, he strolled away with it. his record £8.13million in prize money was £5m more than runner-up John Gosden.
O’Brien had 22 Group One wins, 13 of which were in this country, including the 1,000 Guineas and Oaks with Minding, still in training. and he trained half of the top 10 two-year-olds in europe, headed by Dewhurst Stakes winner Churchill.
Betfair make O’Brien 1-7 to be champion again in 2017 but there is hope of more opposition.
Gosden’s Jack hobbs, winner of last Saturday’s Sheema Classic in Dubai, showed O’Brien’s team will have a tough opponent in big middle-distance races while the sickness that hit many British stables in 2016 should mean some Classic talent has yet to emerge.
JOSEPHINE STILL RISING?
the retirement of hayley turner stripped Britain of its top female Flat jockey but, almost out of nowhere, Josephine Gordon has emerged to fill her shoes.
after 16 winners in 2015 she had 87 in 2016 and also won the apprentice title.
With 25 winners on the allweather, Gordon’s momentum shows no signs of stopping and she will be hoping a new link-up with Newmarket trainer hugo Palmer will provide more even opportunities in bigger races.
WHO’S UP FOR CHAMPION JOCKEY?
the regrettable decision to confine the Flat Jockeys’ championship to winners from Newmarket’s Guineas meeting in May to ascot’s Champions Day in October has devalued this award but it is hard to pick a winner.
the chances of reigning champion Jim Crowley look reduced now he is retained by hamdan al Maktoum. But the jockey Crowley replaced, Paul hanagan, might be a player now he is back in the north reunited with Yorkshire trainer Richard Fahey. Silvestre De Sousa will be a force, as could andrea atzeni and Ryan Moore if fit for the whole season. But it is big wins, not championships, which seem to motivate Moore.
REIGNITING INTEREST IN THE DERBY
MORE than any other race, failure to attract sufficient viewers to watch the Derby did for Channel 4’s stint as racing’s terrestrial TV broadcaster. Last year’s peak of 1.47million viewers was under half the figure attracted by the BBC in 2012.
ITV now hold the rights and a great responsibility in boosting awareness and interest in Britain’s most important and historic Flat race. It will not be easy to persuade the public to take an interest in horses which, unlike those at the Cheltenham Festival, they have largely never heard of and are owned mainly by mega-millionaires.
FRANKEL FEVER STILL INFECTIOUS
HUGE interest surrounded the first offspring of the great champion to hit the track last year and his progeny did him proud thanks to the efforts of horses like Cunco, Fair eva and Queen Kindly. But, as a colt who matured with age, Frankel’s offspring will be expected to do the same.
he could have his first Classic runners, with David elsworthtrained Swiss Storm and Roger Charlton’s atty Persse ones to keep an eye on.
FRENCH LESSONS?
AUTHORITIES across the Channel have introduced a two kilogram (4lb) allowance for female jockeys to promote them positively. It is controversial and there are no current plans to do the same here, but its effects are sure to be monitored closely this summer.