Fairyhouse got the taoisigh exacta up on Easter Monday with Leo Varadkar presenting prizes for the Boylesports Irish Grand National where he was joined by his soon to be successor Simon Harris. It was a display of political visibility to provide some reassurance to a sport so reliant on being in the governmental good books.
The Fine Gael brass was there to back Nina Carberry as she canvassed for the upcoming European elections, a left-field punt that has convinced some of racing’s own upper ranks that the sport’s capital is undimmed when it comes to public appeal.
The Taoiseach looked as bemused as always when faced with the horsey set. His heir apparent looked similarly out of his ground but dutifully ponied up praise about racing’s economic value to the country.
It was note-perfect stuff and somewhat contrived compared to when another taoiseach, Charles Haughey, swept into Fairyhouse and enthusiastically watched his own horse Flashing Steel secure Irish National success in 1995. Say what you like about the Kinsealy Duce, but he knew his paddock from his prosciutto.
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His old adversary Charlie McCreevy retains a passion for the gee-gees stretching back long before he exhibited remarkable patience at the turn of the millenium by waiting for racing to eventually twig what a transformative gold mine his proposed Horse & Greyhound Fund was.
He wasn’t alone in being a staunch racing ally at cabinet. The former minister for justice John O’Donoghue once went public about his displeasure at a “non-trier” in Cork, not least because he was at the meeting in the first place. His colleague Joe Walsh appeared in winner’s circles around the world. Dessie O’Malley was among a host of other political heavyweights that appreciated the game.
It meant Irish racing had friends in high places over the years that resulted in at least being able to count upon a receptive ear when required. But that was then, and this is now.
The new reality has been starkly underlined by how much uncertainty remains about future TV coverage of the sport here due to the proposed ban on advertising contained in new gambling legislation still slowly creeping through the Oireachtas.
Racing wants an exemption from the ban for specialist channels such as Racing TV, which has warned depriving it of no ads will make it economically unviable. The argument is that could mean a dip in ownership and would result in a silly situation where pictures are available everywhere else except here.
A sense of exceptionalism is never far from the surface in the industry. But considering such a similar legislative exemption exists in Australia, and the bottom-line dividend from such a ban is debatable, it is hardly an outrageous ask from Government.
Plenty point with nostalgia to a time when a couple of phone calls could have been expected to discreetly manage it. Some have privately opined, rather more indiscreetly, that James Browne, the force behind the bill, is “only” a Minister of State and badly in need of being kept in check.
But the government’s notable deaf ear on this is just one example of the political reality these days. Another is Horse Racing Ireland’s repeatedly unsuccessful lobbying for an increase in betting duty and how any ambition towards ring-fencing tax revenue for itself has been a long shot for a long time.
It’s why the €76 million allocated by Government to Horse Racing Ireland for this year was no mean win. But it underscored the year-by-year nature of such funding. And that reality doesn’t seem to prevent the sector from repeatedly finding a way to blot its copybook in a way that suggests too many still haven’t grasped how susceptible the money hose is to fluctuating political winds.
It’s only a couple of years since the Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue, warned the sector it was sailing “too close to the wind” in terms of reputational own goals. It was a friendly shot across the bows to remind the sector to keep its house in order in return for money. A few months later he went looking for the contract and remuneration details of the former Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s chief executive and was effectively told to get lost.
This emerged from a series of embarrassing appearances in front of various Oireachtas committees that resulted in an independent investigation into a financial matter of grave concern at the IHRB, the publication of which is still awaited.
Maybe that sort of public embarrassment is unrelated to how the IHRB subsequently looked for and failed to get an extra €1.2 million for anti-doping measures this year. But most bookmakers would be uncharacteristically generous in their odds about it.
All of it indicates racing’s political clout is far from what it was. Picking up the phone is one thing, but who’s at the other end these days?
A series of self-inflicted reputational injuries, along with unavoidable alignment with the betting industry in the public eye, means the absence of friendly faces in power could get felt even more if the impression grows that support costs rather than gains votes. That’s a tot any sort of racegoer can work out.
Something for the Weekend
ACCIDENTAL LEGEND (4.30) has been runner-up on his last three starts but a return to Uttoxeter on Saturday, where he boasts a perfect two-from-two record, can see him regain winning form.
Gavin Cromwell could get a National boost in advance of Vanillier at Aintree next week if FAMEAFTERTHEGLORY (4.23) lines up in Sunday’s Ulster version at Downpatrick. A good effort over the cross-country at Cheltenham in December suggests an extreme stamina test is suitable. Cromwell has also won the race for the last two years.
