Where are our Gold Cup challengers?

By Alan Conway

The Hennessy Gold Cup which takes place this Sunday at Leopardstown is Ireland’s last recognised trial for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. For the majority of the Irish horses in the line up it is no trial. It is their big race of the year as the majority of the horses will not line up for the Gold Cup with a realistic chance of winning. How times have changed.

It was only a few years ago that Ireland filled the first three places in the Gold Cup when War Of Attrition beat Hedgehunter and Forget The Past. It was a golden age for three mile chasers in this country. Along with the likes of War Of Attrition we had Kicking King who won two King Georges and a Gold Cup and Beef Or Salmon who was a standing dish at all the big three mile chases.

Since that heady time we have had a cluster of high class three mile chasers, Pandorama is the most recent one that springs to mind, but nothing to take on the likes of Imperial Commander and the rest. So what has happened? How can we have gone from a position of such strength to where English horses fill the first six places in the ante post Gold Cup market?

It may be that we just don’t have a strong crop of chasers at the moment. Very often a batch of good horses comes along at the same time like Brave Inca, Hardy Eustace and Macs Joy over hurdles. Horse racing by its nature is cyclical. Horses come and go and it’s only when a strong crop fades into the distance that we realise how lucky we were.

It may be, and it’s a belief that I hold strongly, that the recession that hit Ireland has affected the amount of top class chasers who are staying in Ireland. Even though winning a Champion Hurdle or Champion Chase is very attractive, what everyone in the jumping game wants is a Gold Cup winner. And some people are still willing to pay big money for that “would be” champion.

When the country was awash with money there was no pressure on people to sell their horses. We could afford to keep them here. That in part contributed to the success we had at the Festival. But given the circumstances that we are in now people are forced, if a high offer comes in, to take it. It’s a matter of survival.

Take Imperial Commander. The 2010 Gold Cup winner was bought for £30,000 out of a field by bloodstock agent Kevin Ross. That £30,000 can keep a small time operation going for quite some time. That is the trade off these days. Do you risk holding on to a future champion knowing he could go wrong at any time or do you take the money and keep your head above water?

It’s a cold realisation for Irish racing that the days of War Of Attrition and Kicking King may not be gone forever but they might take a while to return.

By Alan Conway