Sunday Blank

The question of whether or not blank Sundays are an industry indulgence or an acknowledgement of declining spectator appeal could arise again when the 2020 fixture list is announced next month. Informed sources suggest consideration is being given to reducing the number of blank Sundays to perhaps just a couple. Inevitably such a prospect is either good or bad depending on your opinion.

This time last year the decision was taken to increase the number of completely blank Sundays during the 2019 summer months from three to five. There's also a free Sunday this year just before Christmas. All this was announced to some fanfare as recognition of the needs of the industry's workforce. It was warmly welcomed by the bodies representing both trainers and stable staff.

It was portrayed as a step towards combating a staffing shortage as well as a minor longer-term instrument for helping attract new people into the industry. It also took place in a context of concern about a glut of racing through the summer months, something that naturally places pressure on those working at the coalface.

Attracting and retaining skilled staff is a very real issue. This is no easy task considering how working with thoroughbreds is a dangerous exercise, often poorly paid, and requiring those prepared to do it to work in all sorts of conditions, and at all sorts of times. Recent focus on workplace practises by bodies such as the Workplace Relations Commission has proved uncomfortable for the industry.

Nevertheless the idea of no racing on the prime audience day during a period of the year when leisure activities are most appealing felt like a rather insular move. TV revenue reigns supreme and it certainly dwarfs what's raised at racecourse gates. But any sport that overlooks the importance of encouraging fans to go to the trouble of actually attending is on a slippery slope.

Admittedly it's a tough sell for those within it not to suit themselves sometimes, especially when there's likely to be minimal bottom-line impact as a consequence. In such a context the value of customer goodwill is tough to quantify. Nevertheless the idea of sacrificing what should be prime summer dates has always felt a little self-indulgent.

Quite why there might be a cut in the number of blank Sundays next year is unclear although many will suspect it's rooted in TV scheduling. Most everything is these days. Whatever the final outcome though there will remain the quandary of an industry needing to put its best face out at the best time while juggling the needs of those actually working in it.

Certainly the demands on staff during the height of the summer are considerable when evening fixtures predominate. No matter what labour laws are in place the length of working days practically required can be particularly long. Travelling long hours after racing from Ballinrobe or Downpatrick for instance can be onerous on all concerned.

Accommodating such concerns, while acknowledging that these are the times with most spectator appeal, is a delicate balancing act.

But, for instance, one step could be a blanket evening meeting decision to make 8.15 the latest start time for any race, regardless of what time of year its run at. Of course that would require the blessing of TV. However a half hour here or there shouldn't make much difference to customers while potentially helping out professionals quite a lot.

The suspicion remains that TV demands will dictate when it comes to scheduling. And considering the value of the media rights deal it's hard to argue with those paying through the nose getting what they want. But it's surely in the best interests of all concerned to try and compromise when it comes to the programme.

Just how tricky such programming problems can be shouldn't be underestimated. But Saturday's fixtures showed how the sport doesn't help itself sometimes.

Scheduling two flat fixtures at Cork and Tramore looked a baffling decision. A pair of meetings in the south of the country, only about 80 miles apart, and with the last race of the afternoon card overlapping the first of the evening programme, might have suited someone on the ground although it's hard to imagine who.

The hoary old chestnut about the south being purely National Hunt territory also made it look a strange concentration although the large 'Ladies Day' crowd at Tramore suggested once again how attendance size is mostly a side issue in regard to what's actually happening on the track.

But considering the overall context what would have been the problem at this time of year especially in Tramore's final race being run at, say, 7.45 rather than 8.10? It would have made little difference to a Saturday crowd while perhaps making an appreciable difference to those working there. And it's not like the betting shop/online viewership would be short of something to punt on in those 25 minutes.

Kim Bailey is all but certainly right when he said a five day Cheltenham festival is inevitable. The commercial imperatives to extending National Hunt racing's showpiece event look remorseless. That doesn't make it correct. In fact what it will ultimately do is provide yet more evidence of how advancement doesn't mean the same thing as improvement.

When the Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and Grand National winning trainer made his prediction British racing's official apparatus went into full 'poo-poo' mode. Short-term it probably will be a case of keeping commercial powder dry, while simultaneously trying to figure out a way of ultimately stretching out even more what are already thinly spread assets.

Ultimately it could make plans to install a new mares for the 2021 festival at the expense of an as yet unselected race seem futile.

Certainly if one is looking to create new races to pad out five days then an intermediate two and a half mile Grade One hurdle to replicate the role the Ryanair Chase performs over fences looks a likely route. It would be a wrong move with likely repercussions for the Champion Hurdle in particular but there would at least be some logic to it in terms of quality.

But the prospect of yet more 'fiddly' races and ordinary handicaps diluting what is designed to represent the peak of National Hunt quality is one to fill a lot of people with little but dread.

Finally Friday evening's Group Three Irish Leger Trial attracted attention when the half-dozen runners were spread between just Aidan O'Brien and his son Joseph. The latter had four runners while his father's two runners included the eventual winner Southern France. It was a spectacular display of familial strength in depth.

It reflects how the O'Brien's possess the two most powerful yards in the country, a situation many expect to get even more pronounced over the coming years. In fact one experienced and extremely knowledgeable racing observer is offering just a single digit price about the Irish Derby in particular reflecting that dominance within five years.

Actually, given the continuing impact of Galileo, the concentration of his best sons in Coolmore's hands, as well as the expertise and clout of their operation overall, the chances of an all O'Brien Irish Derby occurring sometime soon mightn't be the most extortionate ante-post bet struck this year!