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Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor's Latest Blog

Broad Brush Business

The deserted betting ring at Galway 2020The deserted betting ring at Galway 2020
© Photo Healy Racing

People have learned to be grateful for small mercies in recent months so this week's government announcement about a potential increase in permitted outdoor crowd sizes is eagerly awaited. Any assumption it was a done deal vanished with news of increased coronavirus numbers in recent days. An increase in attendance from 200 to 500 doesn't sound much. Crowds of up to 5,000 have been permitted in parts of France for weeks. But the impact on Irish racing's morale would be significant.

Two months after the sport's resumption behind closed doors such an easing of restrictions would at least represent some sort of progress. Horse Racing Ireland has already signalled the allowing owners to go racing is its priority. That's no surprise on any number of levels. Owners are the backbone of the whole game. It's also not clear what sort of demand there is to go racing among those in the general public understandably wary of the Covid-19 threat.

Just how fluid the situation is has been underlined by public health statistics in recent days. Whether that's enough to tip a cautious government into further postponing phase four of its national recovery roadmap won't be known for sure until after the latest cabinet meeting. Sporting events don't seem to be high on its list of concerns. Instead the focus in terms of indoor and outdoor gatherings is pubs and the hospitality sectors. But legislating is a broad-brush business.

The official caution reflected in how just 200 people are allowed outside on-track at any one time - with 50 indoors - has exasperated many within racing for some time now. The sight of French racegoers enjoying a day out while wearing face-masks makes for a stark contrast. But Friday's 11th hour cancellation of Goodwood's 'trial' fixture underlined the dangers of presuming too much and then moving too quickly.

Between that, and increasingly anxious bulletins from the health authorities, especially in relation to the age-profile of those testing positive for the virus, little is being taken for granted in HRI.

Any queries about roadmap plans of their own are met with the straightest of straight bats. In an environment where GAA demands to be made an exception sound jarring that's probably no bad policy in an overall sense, although intensely frustrating for some industry stakeholders. It all makes for a situation where plenty of fingers will be kept very tightly crossed indeed this week.

The phrase 'new normal' has become a Covid cliché. But when you see some of the crowded scenes on beaches or holiday centres it doesn't seem a stretch to envision larger assemblies being allowed, with appropriate social distancing, at an outdoor venue like a racecourse.

Part of that new norm' however is likely to be a pragmatic flexibility in relation to outbreaks of the virus. News of the first jockey to test positive since racing resumed in Britain two months ago proves the sector is no more immune to the problem than anywhere else. This is likely to be part of that new norm'. It is in everyone's interests though to make sure that incidents aren't allowed escalate into a problem that brings everything grinding to a halt.

Onto something more optimistic and the sight of a top sportsperson openly and straightforwardly admitting to making a mess of things.

Actually it seemed circumstances conspired against Oisin Murphy in last week's Sussex Stakes more than any grave mistake on his part on board Kameko. The English Guineas winner was all dressed up with nowhere to go on the rail in a race where he wasn't alone in not getting a straightforward run. The winner Mohaather's performance was all the more meritorious considering the disrupted passage he had.

That he won made everything alright for his rider Jim Crowley. But how refreshing it was to hear Murphy come back and hold his hands up to "jockey error." He even apologised to Kameko's connections. What a contrast it was to some of the brazen defiance we're often subjected to from those who've patently messed but dismiss even a whisper of criticism with a dismissive attitude best summed up in the 'how many winners have you ridden' line.

For what it's worth Kameko isn't the first horse, nor will he be the last, to endure a nightmare on the Goodwood rail. But Murphy is proving to be a fresh voice as he continues his sure-footed way to the very top. It's hardly coincidental either that his readiness to acknowledge what had happened cut out a lot of potential flak from the get-go.

Other Goodwood fallout is that Stradivarius is as low as 12-1 for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in October. His owner has got his wish granted for one of the great stayers of modern times to take a cut at Europe's greatest all-aged mile and a half race. Such plucky ambition is always to be admired. But the Arc looks another matter entirely to routinely beating up Nayef Road over a distance of ground.

Maybe that's why John Gosden appeared at such pains to point out his owner's input into this call. After all Gosden has a certain other Arc candidate by the name of Enable. And should Stradivarius go and win at Longchamp on the first Sunday in October Gosden might anticipate queries as to what exactly he was doing running an Arc horse around two and half miles at Ascot for three years running.

Normally now would be a time to put Galway under the microscope. But the heart isn't in it this time. One day there was more than enough to establish what a sterile exercise Irish racing's most social occasion of the year would be without actual sociability.

The only time the heart raced was in the ten minutes between failing the first temperature test at the screening gate and then passing it second time around. Mind you those ten minutes also had the best line of the day from the exasperated guy with the no-contact thermometer - "Will you get out of the sun and stand in the shade!"