Ruby Walsh: Start early, finish early is the wintertime way. Pity Mazars can't follow suit
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The clocks go to wintertime in the early hours of tomorrow morning, and that extra hour in bed will be embraced by many before they realise that everything now starts early, too, because the days are drawing in.
I believe the change in wintertime hours is being debated at various levels, but I am a fan. Dark evenings make for long nights, but dark mornings make days even more challenging to face, and I, for one, have no problem with the early starts the hour-change demands of our sport.
Start early, finish early. Tomorrow evening at 4.45pm, the last race will be run at the most westerly racecourse, Galway. In 54 days, that will be 3.30pm, a nice change from 9pm in the height of summer for horse racing participants. Every cloud has a silver lining if you choose to look for it, and I hope the sport of horse racing can warm the winter days.
Some will argue that that feeling is a bit away as the Flat racing moves to warmer climates and the jumpers are nowhere near full flow, but that's the beauty.
Cheltenham today, Aintree tomorrow, and Wetherby and Down Royal next weekend. These are starting points for the months ahead, with hints and clues for late November, December, and beyond.
The only drawback is the official going descriptions at Cheltenham and Aintree, both of which are described as good. One can only imagine the panic at Wetherby and Down Royal as their management teams pray for winter weather to arrive.
Watering now at tracks that plan to race on St Stephen’s Day could be detrimental to the ground when the rain does come, so nature must be allowed to run its course, and the consequences must be dealt with. Patience will pay dividends, however, the rain will fall, and the good horses will appear.
Christmas will be here before we know it, and by then, we will know who won the Paddy Power Gold Cup, The Coral Gold, Morgiana, Fighting Fifth, Hattons Grace, John Durkan, Betfair Chase, Tingle Creek and Troytown. Horses we have never heard of will be the second coming, and a few bubbles will have burst, but the excitement is on the way.
Not everything is coming all the same, and a year and a bit later, the Mazars report into matters of grave financial concern at the IHRB has not appeared. We know the initial investigation related to €350,000 being taken from the Jockeys’ Emergency Fund and moved into the IHRB accounts, which was replaced a few months later, back in 2022.
That’s simple enough economics, but “borrowing” money that isn’t yours, whether you replace it or not, has a different term in my mind. That fund has stringent guidelines for who can benefit from it, and trust me, the IHRB accounts do not qualify.
The Jockeys’ Emergency Fund is a fully registered charity, and “borrowing" from a charity for what may have been non-charitable work is not what the charity regulator would describe as good governance.
Still, one hopes Mazars are not being paid by the day because Government tribunals have moved faster than this case, and the delay is indeed only raising more questions for the members of the Public Accounts Committee to fire at IHRB representatives and those from HRI when they all sit down together again. One wonders why HRI hasn’t pressed the IHRB on this more.
In the purest form, Doncaster leads the way today with the only Group 1 on offer, and James Owen will go toe-to-toe with Aidan O’Brien in the Futurity. Wimbledon Hawkeye has danced a few sets this season but, for me, his York run in the Acomb could arguably be the best two-year-old race run this season.
The Lion In Winter was brilliant that day with Wimbledon Hawkeye one and three-quarter lengths behind and a half a length in front of Ruling Court. The gap of five lengths to The Waco Kid is the interesting bit, as he has franked that form since, and Wimbledon Hawkeye has won the Royal Lodge himself, so Delacroix will have to bring his A-game and bit to Donny to round out the UK Flat season in style for Aidan.
Down in Gloucester, the old and new early-season maestros will be looking to maintain form. Nigel Twiston Davies has always hit the ground running in new seasons, and his Broadway Boy achieved a lot for a five-year-old this time last year. A mark of 149 looks workable for him, in the 2.20pm race, given the average maturity for horses with his type of pedigree.
At 3.30pm, Gavin Cromwell, who left his mark on the Cotswolds last season, will bid to keep his momentum up with Bottler’secret, who - and it's only a tiny possibility - could work himself into a Champion Hurdle prospect this season.
Stage Star and Ahoy Senor top the list in Sunday's Old Roan Chase at Aintree, and even if some of Paul Nicholls's horses appear to need a run, I think Stage Star will be ready enough to deliver. Sa Majeste, Search For Glory and Pattern Merchant are a few names scattered through Galway’s card to keep an eye on. Al Arrivee, ‘upon arrival’ in English, could announce her arrival in the finale out west at 4.45pm tomorrow evening.