AFTER WHAT WAS up there with the worst 12 months racing has endured in the PR stakes, this was a boxer getting up off the floor and telling the referee to get out of his way.
Twelve months on from the start of lockdown, Cheltenham is still a byword for recklessness, selfishness and letting your compatriots down. Earlier this week, I mentioned how I met someone publicly at Cheltenham last year in a broadcast and was advised to delete it, lest he object to the slur.
This morning, BBC Radio Ulster invited me on. They weren’t keen to talk about Shishkin, Honeysuckle or Appreciate It; in fact, I don’t think the presenter mentioned a single horse. What seems a relentlessly negative narrative from the British state broadcaster shows little sign of slowing.
Two years ago, on the morning of Day One, I observed its TV coverage lead with Cheltenham’s attempts to cut down on any fatalities at the festival. Yesterday it focused on why Cheltenham shouldn’t have gone ahead 12 months ago when it wasn’t recalling the recent controversies involving Gordon Elliott and Rob James.
On the radio this morning, the presenter was keen to know how deep the crisis was in racing. I hope Concertista didn’t let him down for a fortune.
Racing might just be on the front page again tomorrow because a woman won the Champion Hurdle for the first time on a mare who has become one of the icons of the sport, perhaps an embodiment of the defiance those who love it should feel.
Honeysuckle used to be relatively quiet in Henry de Bromhead’s but she then started to win every race and now she’s the boss, like she was in the Champion Hurdle today.
Rachael Blackmore was going nowhere as an amateur and if she retired a few years ago, few would even remember her. She instead embarked on an unlikely course to becoming one of the best professionals in the game and, while it wasn’t quite as tactically adept as was the case on the same horse 12 months ago, the ride today was true to trainer de Bromhead, the horse and the rider: keep it simple, be confident, ‘we are in this together and all at the peak of our powers’.
Remarkably, the TV crew, journalists and racing personalities that made up the minuscule Cheltenham attendance gave Honeysuckle a welcome into the parade ring that would put most meetings to shame. Imagine if there were a crowd!
“It doesn’t matter what you are,” said Blackmore, a reluctant ambassador for equality in sport. “We’re jockeys. We’re winning races.”
Owner Kenny Alexander said it was like going from the Europa League last year (mares’ hurdle) to the Champions League of the day-one feature. “I am speechless,” Blackmore went on, “I really am. I can’t believe we just won a Champion Hurdle. I hope Kenny Alexander is getting a kick out of this at home.”
Mick Fitzgerald, whose tears during the early stages of the Morgan mess moved more than a sport, again found the right words as the mare greeted a Cheltenham winner’s enclosure probably wondering where everyone was and why she wasn’t getting the acclaim she deserved. Honeysuckle knows she is good.
“This is lovely. There’s no crowd here but I hope you are watching this at home and enjoying it,” Fitzgerald said on ITV.
“Quite a good cheer,” enthused Ed Chamberlin after they had briefly ceased talking in honour of the mare.
With Appreciate It, Shishkin and Honeysuckle trying to out-do each other in terms of explosive performances, bookmakers faced a battering if Concertista won and it is estimated seven-figure losses were saved by some or all of the high-street firms thanks to Black Tears, who used to be trained by Gordon Elliott.
He was at home, probably wondering what to make of both Black Tears, who is at least still housed in Cullentra but trained by Sneezy Foster and Galvin, who is now with Ian Ferguson, winning for other people.
ITV had already said it would be “controversial” if Abacadabras won the Champion Hurdle, given that he used to be trained by a man who treats him like he’s royalty but sat on a dead horse over two years ago and is now banned for six months. The BBC’s sports section is leading with England’s win over India in the T20 Cricket.
Meanwhile, a woman won the Champion Hurdle, yet that really isn’t a big deal to those of us who follow racing, because we know how talented she is.
We also know that racing staff are not well-paid; they work crazy hours; that half of them, give or take, are women. They take little. They give their all.
We should never take that fact, or this sport, for granted.
