Pat Smullen Column: Trials and Tributes

[Wandering Eyes]

We’re right in the middle of the trials season, not just for the Classics, but for the new-look Curragh Racecourse, which yesterday had a trial run to test all the facilities. A couple of horses were galloping and all race-day procedures came under scrutiny to make sure everything is in place and working properly before the first meeting of the season.

As we count down to the Guineas, there were a number of interesting trials run in Britain and France at the weekend. At Newbury, they looked nice fillies in the G3 Fred Darling, and So Perfect (Scat Daddy) ran a good race, but they all finished on top of each other so you imagine they’ll need to take a step forward and improve from that to win a Guineas. I’m sure David Elsworth is very happy and has left plenty to work on with the winner, Dandhu (GB) (Dandy Man {Ire}). It’s very dangerous to eliminate horses at this time of the year as they can step up from their first run and improve–the good horses do that, and keep on improving all year long.

The G3 Greenham S. was a very interesting race and I was impressed with Mohaather (GB) (Showcasing {GB}). He looks to have a pretty good turn of foot, which obviously every good horse possesses. He put the race to bed quickly and then just wandered about a little bit in front but I thought it was a very good performance. On pedigree I suppose you’d have to wonder whether he will stay the mile, but on everything that we’ve seen has been encouraging and he’s obviously a contender going into the Guineas. It’s great to see Marcus Tregoning with a good horse again–people forget very quickly what a good job he did with horses in the past and it’s lovely to see him have a nice horse for Sheikh Hamdan, who has supported him all through his career. If the horse is good enough, Marcus is good enough.

At ParisLongchamp, Persian King (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) was another impressive winner of the G3 Prix de Fontainebleau. If Andre Fabre decides to come to Newmarket, the horse has previous form there so he would have to be a big player. Pierre-Charles Boudot couldn’t hide his delight with how the trial went and they seem very confident that the horse is of Group 1 ability, so if they choose to come to Newmarket it will add great strength to the race. Personally, I think they all have to go some to beat Too Darn Hot (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) if he turns up on the day, though it’s not ideal to have had a setback at this time of the year. My other concern is that Too Darn Hot looks the kind of horse who wouldn’t want it too firm at Newmarket.

Reading the reports from Ballydoyle, they seem confident that Ten Sovereigns (Ire) (No Nay Never) will get the trip and, if he does, he will be a huge player, too. So the G1 2000 Guineas is shaping up to be a really good race if all the contenders get there.

All Out for American

It was great to see such a good start for American Pharoah with ‘TDN Rising Star’ Monarch Of Egypt. I was there at Naas and I just loved the horse. What an attitude he showed walking round: another horse got very upset in the preliminaries but Monarch Of Egypt never flinched. He walked out onto the racecourse and the other horse was continuing to be difficult. He ended up walking for a furlong before he cantered to the start which was unbelievable for a 2-year-old first time out. Aidan [O’Brien] has said that the American Pharoah horses seem to have great minds and while he looked a little bit green in the last furlong you’d have to love everything about him. If all the American Pharoahs show the ability and the mind that Monarch Of Egypt showed on Sunday then he’s going to be a pretty good stallion.

Curragh Investment Much Appreciated

I’ve been working at The Curragh for nearly all my working life and there are great facilities on the training grounds but all the recent improvements have been badly needed. Work has been ongoing in the last six months and will continue to happen over the next six months.

There’s a really good nine-furlong sand and fibre gallop which has been renamed the Free Eagle gallop. All trainers seem to be really happy with that having been put in, and there’s a five-and-a-half furlong sand and fibre gallop which is now complete and in use, and I know Johnny Murtagh and John Oxx are very happy with that. It’s been greatly received and there have also been big improvements on the canter down to the Old Vic and Free Eagle gallops as well as the grass gallops. There are also plans to refurbish the Maddenstown gallops on the other side of the motorway.

A committee was put together to oversee the work, which included Johnny Murtagh, John Oxx, Dermot Weld, Eddie Harty, Fiona Craig and myself, and Fiona in particular has put a huge amount of work into the project. In the coming months there are plans to upgrade the irrigation system on the racecourse and hopefully we’ll have a badly needed watered grass gallop on The Curragh.

The reason it’s been done is to try to have the best facilities with which to attract the best horses to be trained on The Curragh. We want owners to look at it as a centre of excellence for training. There are currently around 700 horses in training and hopefully this will bring new horses to be trained there. The numbers have dropped in recent years and there’s a definite need of more horses. Hopefully this will entice owners to send their horses to be trained on The Curragh as well as attracting young trainers to set up there, which is most important.

It’s very exciting. The existing trainers and owners with horses there now have world-class facilities, which is what’s needed for the safety of the horses and the riders, so everyone there has really appreciated the investment that has been made. This investment has come from Eva Bucher Haefner, and how lucky we are to have a lady like her in Ireland. Yes, she has her own horses in training on The Curragh, but this is not just for herself and her own horses, it’s for everybody. This would not have happened without her investment, and it’s a huge gesture to The Curragh, and to Irish racing. Eva has also invested in the new racecourse as well as the training grounds, and her support is quite amazing.

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