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Well, it was turf on both occasions, I grant you!
you’re right, my mistake – its actually described as GF for Galileo and G for Sea The Stars.
i don’t do greater detail than that across generations, even though i do still have imprinted on my mind the number 9,192,631,770
I’m not of the opinion that Fame and Glory would have beaten Sea the Stars at Epsom however the race was run but the Fame and Glory at the Curragh yesterday looked a better horse to me and may well have narrowed the gap between them. I agree that we are unlikely to find out over 12f, sadly.
Interesting article from Brian O’Connor on irish-racing.com:
Watering Disaster
Learning from mistakes may not be compulsory but after yet another cock-up revolving around the determination of Irish racecourses to artificially water tracks, maybe it would be a good idea to remind everyone that Ireland’s climate is not the same as Chad’s.We have been down this road with depressing regularity. As recently as last Easter, Fairyhouse decided to water ground for the Irish Grand National that was officially good. The result was a surface that played decisively against horses with a liking for quick going.
What happens? Nothing is what happens. And now we get an Irish Derby turned on its head by the absence of Sea The Stars.
After the event there have been suggestions that John Oxx didn’t really want to run the horse anyway, preferring the Eclipse over ten furlongs, but that doesn’t wash. He made it clear throughout he wanted to run the Guineas and Derby winner if ground conditions were a minimum of good. What does wash though is that the man living a mile away from the track remembered how quickly the climate on this soggy rock of ours can change.
During a build up consisting of upbeat ‘good to firm’ ground reports, the trainer steadfastly stuck to his guns about the condition of the straight which he described midweek as being on the easy side. It was hardly a novel claim to suggest that the surface in the straight is different from the round course at the Curragh. Years of artificial watering has effectively created two tracks at headquarters.
But with the prospect of an appearance by a colt that may end up being one of the most outstanding racehorses ever produced by this country, the Curragh’s decision to continue watering the straight – along with the genuinely fast round track – was remarkable.
All week, Oxx warned about the possibility of showers altering things significantly and then on Thursday night, a strange thing happened – the Met Office got it wrong. Twice the predicted amount of rain fell, the ground turned soft, and Sea The Stars was never going to run after that. What might be the sole chance for Irish racegoers to see an outstanding champion was lost.
When are we ever going to learn? The weather changes in Ireland. Rain is rarely more than a few days away. But even if we were all hanging on to the Kalahari desert, it shouldn’t mean everyone being so in thrall to the idea of watering.
So here’s an alternative idea – LEAVE IT ALONE!
This culture of producing ‘safe’ ground has just played havoc with the most important race run in this country. As a phrase, ‘safe’ is as banal as it is imprecise. What’s safe for one horse may not be for another. And it is a fact of life that trainers clamouring for their ground of choice are primarily motivated by self-interest. So, except in extreme cases – LEAVE IT ALONE!
It was hard not to feel sympathy for the Curragh manager Paul Hensey and his team last week. Racecourse managements have to follow watering guidelines which are intended to ‘maintain but not change ground.’ There’s a balancing act for you. Hensey has also experienced flak in the past for the going being too fast at the Curragh.
Just think back to last year’s 2,000 Guineas and Jim Bolger’s complaints about how fast ground ruined New Approach’s chance of winning. Curiously enough there was no mention of ‘safe’ ground from the Henrythenavigator team that day. Hensey’s job, trying to keep so many diverse interests happy, can make Barack Obama’s look like a stroll in the park.
So why not help him out. If there has to be a guideline, then let it be that only firm ground is to be watered, and then only if the Met Office sign a legal document in blood that there’s going to be no rain.
That of course isn’t going to happen so, and I know I’m repeating myself here, – LEAVE IT ALONE!”
There are enough mudlark plodders with gammy joints in Ireland. They have fifty weeks of the year to shuffle around in muck. It’s now summer time. If by some miracle, there is actual summer ground about, then let those horses who like to hear their feet rattle indulge themselves for a fortnight.
Because the one sure thing in this country, besides death and nurses, is that rain is coming.
http://www.irishracing.com/blog/blog/2009/06/29/watering-disaster/#more-28
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