Ryan Moore’s incomparable riding ability got another global airing in the United States this week. True, he was not enough of a miracle worker to shield the dirt from poor City Of Troy’s eyes, but he nevertheless delivered impeccable rides aboard both Lake Victoria and especially Henri Matisse, on whom he timed an inexorable outside surge to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
Joe’s BloGG
I’m of the opinion that the unassuming personality Moore possesses is to his credit and is the perfect marriage for Ballydoyle’s behemoth operation. However, when we come to remember jockeys in 20 years’ time, it will be Frankie Dettori remembered as the true great despite never having reached Moore’s unerring ability to get things right.
This is not to criticise Moore, as we cannot expect him to be someone he is not. But it does show that a fringe sport, like racing is nowadays, requires either record-breaking feats of superhuman levels to pierce the popularity veil, or someone who does not mind showing off.
AP McCoy fell into the former category given he simply kept winning, was always present on the big day, and also had that endearing neighbourhood to a significant career failure for so long: that he could not get close to winning the Grand National. Then, of course, he did, doing so with a roar of emotion, spurred on by a public who backed him, then voted him as Sports Personality of the Year.
There needs to be something unique about the jockeys we put on racing’s pedestals. Ruby Walsh, for all his brilliance at Cheltenham and his subsequently superb punditry on ITV and Racing TV, is not a name that would have pervaded wider sporting culture. Rachael Blackmore, on the other hand, most certainly did at the top of her game.
Dettori, McCoy, Blackmore – all figures who offered something for the cult of the individual. Combining Dettori’s personality, McCoy’s success and fallibility, and Blackmore’s gender would potentially offer us the dream ticket, but it is folly to chase it.
Creating our jumps’ figurehead is dreamwork, but it is something Champions’ Full Gallop, for some of its drawbacks, at least attempted to get right.
ITV’s racing documentary did not have anywhere near the same impact as contemporaries such as Drive To Survive, Full Swing or Break Point, which have helped to bolster Formula One, golf and tennis’ profile respectively, the first-named doing a particularly noteworthy job. Some of the reasons for this included its disjointed backwards-forwards leaping through the National Hunt season, as well as too much focus on aspects even racing fans would class as second rate. The trainers’ championship, for all it matters to messieurs Mullins, Skelton and Nicholls, does not really get the heart racing.
However, the cameras did begin a worthy project by zooming in on the lives of Sean Bowen and Harry Cobden during their own jockeys’ championship battle. Bowen came across well, but it was Cobden who received more plaudits.
Behind Blackmore, Cobden is the closest we have to marketing material at racing’s fingertips. He is charming, witty and a genuinely top jockey. He lacks the glass ceiling to shatter like Blackmore does, he cannot fall back on McCoy’s history, and as yet, has not been given the platform to emulate Dettori’s dismounts.
Yet racing cannot choose as it begs. Cobden should be platformed in an era where the likes of Alan Johns are engaging with a content-heavy social media landscape. Not every F1 driver is interesting (very few really are), but they secured the breakthrough horse racing hasn’t. As a result, give your voices a proper mouthpiece.
Rachael will continue to make her own headlines where she can, as will Bryony Frost when summoned from her ice cold exile on the continent, but we cannot blindly follow her in the journey alone. Headline making horses are one in a million. But the people are there if the sport wishes.
Classic Cliches – Fascinations & Irritations of the Racing Week
Fascination – Envoi Allen & What Constitutes Success
Envoi Allen has won ten Grade 1s. Some would still label him a disappointment.
For context, that is one more than Galopin Des Champs, four more than Shishkin, and six more than Allaho. The former has time on his hands, but I’d wager that most of the racing population would consider the latter pair as superior horses despite significantly smaller top level hauls.
Shall I go on? (I’m going to).
The Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle is sometimes seen as a crown of thorns given some of its winners have failed to live up to the hype. Faugheen, it is said, was the last great champion to claim the race. Should Envoi Allen eke out one more Grade 1, he will go level with his tally at the top.
Envoi Allen would never compete with the great heroes of yesteryear though surely? Well his Down Royal success took him past Sprinter Sacre’s nine, while he is already four Grade 1s clear of Best Mate too. Denman? He only ever won three, so even if you consider his Hennessy wins as Grade 1 level performances, he is only halfway to our Cheveley Park hero of the hour.
It amazes me to read any discourse around the Baring Bingham’s winners and that Envoi Allen deserves more of a mention in the same breath as City Island, Sir Gerhard and Samcro rather than Faugheen. We ask far too much of our talents sometimes. He is a true modern great and our standards should start to reflect that.
Irritation – Bravemansgame
When Britain needed a new chasing hero to put up a fight to the Irish, it really felt like Bravemansgame had stepped up.
His game, but ultimately unsuccessful fight against Galopin Des Champs in the 2023 Gold Cup marked him out as well above ordinary, yet here we are 18 months on and he’s not won a single race since.
This is coming from someone who has not backed him blind, but merely wishes that he did not have to default to Irish-trained eyes when seeking the Gold Cup winner, or indeed any winner of a staying Grade 1. His defeat in the Charlie Hall ended any hope that last season was a blip.
Tip for the Weekend
Hopefully Bravemansgame finds some inspiration from the recent performances of Copperhead.
I love it when a horse has it, loses it, then finds it again. That is exactly what Joe Tizzard’s charge appears to have done, as having been a highly promising novice chaser prior to lockdown, he then went over four years without winning a race.
However, suddenly he cannot lose, racking up a hat-trick of handicap chases, including by 14 lengths at Aintree two weeks ago. Here’s hoping he takes up his entry in the Badger Beer Handicap Chase at Wincanton (3.30pm Saturday) as another 8lb rise might not stop this rejuvenated veteran under Freddie Gingell’s 3lb claim.