I’d Definitely Appeal The Tingle Creek If I was De Bromhead

The Tingle Creek was a funny one. It was one of those races that if your horse won, you’d think you shouldn’t lose it in the stewards’ room, yet if you were second you’d be rightly annoyed as well.

Tingle Creek Appeal

Special Tiara was definitely impeded and if I was Henry De Bromhead I would be appealing. By all accounts, that’s the decision they have made, so we will just have to wait and see if they get the race on the appeal.

Despite the bump he got at the fence, Special Tiara was very brave the way he battled to the line only beaten under a length at the finish. If you were to ask me did he lose more than a length when Sire De Grugy bumped into him, I’d have to say yes.

Things are different in England to what they are here in Ireland and obviously the rules are different as well. I think the De Bromhead camp were very unlucky.

HRI Awards
I had a great night at the HRI awards last night. I had to invest in a nice new tie on behalf of Don Cossack, who finished joint horse of the year along with Faugheen. It was a great privilege for us and I think it could have been the first time that two horses shared the prize.

Hopefully that is just the start of it, and we’ll have a couple more prizes to pick up on his behalf throughout the season.

If we are going to win more Grade Ones with him, it would probably be fair to say that we will have to bump heads with Willie’s Djakadam and Don Poli, who were very impressive winners of their respective races this weekend.

With Don Poli you just don’t know how good he is because he only ever does enough to win in his races. Djakadam really impressed me as well – he jumped, he galloped and he stayed very well. They are two very strong Gold Cup contenders, no question.

Grand National and Channel 4 Racing
I read earlier in the week that the powers that be are changing the start time of the Grand National. It won’t make much difference to you, or me, or the people that would already be watching the races, but maybe they feel that having the race on that bit later might boost the viewing figures?

If you are a real horse person you would watch the race if it started at half eight in the morning.

To say that I get to look at Channel 4 coverage much would be telling a lie, but from what I do see, I can definitely say that the likes of Alastair Down and John Francome would help in boosting viewing figures as opposed to changing start times.

Letting go of Alastair Down was the biggest mistake that Channel 4 have ever made.

The likes of him and John Francome on television are brilliant for racing. They are legends of the game and people want to hear what they have to say because it’s interesting.

The fact that the viewing figures continue to drop says it all really. For those two not to be a part of the racing coverage is a joke.