Sometimes good fortune falls in your lap, and Horse Racing Ireland has been gifted a promotional boon it can hang a fascinating story around much of the rest of this flat season.
Racing is fundamentally about horses, but little grabs the public imagination more than a head-to-head battle for a jockey’s title and circumstances have conspired to supply such a scenario in spades.
Right now, there are four riders entitled to fancy their chances of being crowned Ireland’s champion flat jockey when the season ends in November. Much of that is due to Colin Keane’s own good fortune in being appointed to one of the most coveted positions in European racing.
Being number one rider to Juddmonte means Ireland’s reigning six-time champion is going to be on his travels. The upside is a chance to compete for the greatest prizes in Europe. The downside is he can’t take care of business at home so much. Another snag is the risk of picking up suspensions such as the 14 days he will have to serve out later this month for breaking British whip rules.
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That briefly made Billy Lee favourite to be crowned champion for the first time this season. Runner up to Keane for the last three years, including beaten by just three winners (92-89) in 2022, Lee looked to be in pole position to take advantage of his rival’s absences.
Except last Saturday at Limerick, he broke his collarbone in a fall. He’s facing at least four weeks out. So, suddenly, both Chris Hayes and Dylan Browne McMonagle find themselves licking their lips at the thought of a title challenge too.
It used to be that nobody talked of the jockeys’ championship until Listowel in September. Often it was because the outcome was a foregone conclusion, or those in the hunt didn’t want any fuss. But for those charged with “morkoting” the sport this is a godsend. Nothing weaves a narrative through a lengthy time frame quite like a title race.
The most famous of all remains the epic duel between Ireland’s Pat Eddery and American Steve Cauthen to be crowned Britain’s champion jockey in 1987. When the cross-channel season went from March to Doncaster in November, it was a thread of continuity through much of the campaign.
“I remember that at the beginning of the season we both decided we wanted to win it,” Cauthen recalled. “From mid-season there was never more than half a dozen in it, and it went right to Doncaster on the last day.”
Both men went everywhere, to Scottish outposts like Hamilton and Musselburgh, in pursuit of a winner. The struggle was a media dream, supplying drama to even the most mundane midweek fixture in the middle of nowhere.
It did no harm that the laconic Irishman and the smooth “Kentucky Kid” were two of the finest jockeys ever to ride a horse. By the end it was 197-195 for Cauthen. It was so taxing he vowed never to try again. Eddery won for the following four years.
In 2007 a British title race again went down to the last day, where Jamie Spencer and Seb Sanders eventually shared the title on 190 winners each. Just three years after that Paul Hanagan edged out Richard Hughes by two on the final day.
Teeing up this kind of clash for publicity wasn’t such a priority in Ireland. In 2002, Mick Kinane and Johnny Murtagh went into the final day tied for the title on 76 winners each. Kinane eventually won a titanic battle that in broader sporting terms almost slipped under the radar.
Things got better for when just two winners separated Jack Kennedy and Paul Townend at the end of a tussle for the 2024 jump jockey’s championship. The victorious Kerry man admitted afterwards the whole thing had been nerve-racking.
Such tussles can be as tense as they are all-consuming for those involved. But they are fascinating for viewers, even casual fans who can engage with the elementary day-to-day fluctuations of such a competition.
It makes the prospect of four riders with distinct personalities and profiles trying might and main to win an even better opportunity to sell the sport.
Keane is the star turn. No one could begrudge Lee a title having got so close before. Browne McMonagle is the young buck, just 22 and full of potential. Then there’s Hayes, a notably fluent individual which is always helpful to those charged with selling the sport.
There are more than enough storylines within such a scenario to have HRI’s promotional platforms whirring for weeks to come, pushing a straightforward narrative through a quartet of elite sportspeople striving to come out on top.
As for who wins, bookmakers reckon Hayes is the outsider of four. But considering he’s able to do light weights – getting as low as 8.6 in the last year – that could look generous come November 2nd.
Whatever the outcome it will be a test for all concerned, including those tasked with getting the message out.
Something for the Weekend
Rashabar (1.50) has been mixing it at the top level over a mile without success and is upped to 10 furlongs for tomorrow’s Listed opener at Newbury. A convincing argument can be made on pedigree for him relishing it. If conditions don’t get too soft the sole three-year-old in the line up could simply be too good for this opposition.
Minnie Hauk is the Curragh’s star Irish Oaks attraction but her juvenile stable companion Extravagant (4.50) looks more of a betting proposition in a Nursery. He is dropped back to six furlongs from his last start and connections look to fancy the 83-mark assigned to him.
