Irish Horses still ahead of the Handicapper
The post Grand National weights quarrel between chief BHA handicapper, Phil Smith and Ryanair Boss, Michael O'Leary had more resemblance to two children arguing in the eyes of many. There was constant abuse being thrown by both sides, no quarter was asked and certainly none given. During the dispute, Michael O'Leary was in his element, soaking up media time giving his best prepared rants about injustice. As for Phil Smith feebly tried to defend how he rated Outlander as a better horse than Many Clouds, I think it's safe to say neither where really in the right.
Just after the media attention was beginning to bubble down from that dispute, Phil Smith released the Cheltenham Festival weights, cue more Irish uproar. O'Leary wasn't on his own this time, connections of Presenting Percy were furious and both jockey and trainer were quick to dismiss any chance of their horse winning the Pertemps Final, the race he'd been entered for. Davy Russell, the rider of the horse in question, was a regular on the pre Cheltenham Preview night circuit and was almost forcing people to not back this horse. The ensuing results have confirmed why one must not believe Russell so easily, a great jockey but a speaker of one of the best brands of bullshit in the game.
In fact, despite genuine uproar from the majority of Irish connections after the weights were released. It was the Irish who secured seven of the ten festival handicaps and nineteen of the festival winners. I’d say that Phil Smith should be duly inundated with apology letters from his Irish doubters. What this has only done though is question the strength of Noel O'Brien, chief of Irish handicapping. If some of the horses ran of the ratings he suggested, they would have won by furlongs rather than lengths. It's when one sees such domination at a festival like Cheltenham, that one realises why English horses rarely venture to our shores. Despite a distinct upturn in prize money recently in the big Irish Handicaps, the appearance of foreign horses is minimal.
I honestly don't see where the solutions to these problems lie because I just feel the standard of horse in England is of an inferior quality to their Irish equivalents. England need to quickly look into their own race programme closely because there is obvious flaws to the system. What
proves such a gulf in quality is the fact that Phil Smith was hard on some of the Irish horses and yet they still went out and won easily, the English were destroyed and have every reason to feel beaten and bruised. I firmly believe that they are the architects of their own downfall and until their race programme is resurrected, similar results will ensue.