The Weekly Wrap

Owners and breeders in Britain and Ireland have long looked on in envy at the lucrative premiums system in operation in France, and a good number of both have taken advantage of the system by keeping mares in the country or buying French-bred horses. Few, however, will have looked at events on Sunday with any source of pride, for it is to the shame of French racing that most of the day's racing at Saint-Cloud, including three Group races, was abandoned following a protest by trainers, owners and breeders over planned cuts to the bonuses.

Anyone directly involved with producing horses for the racecourse will know the amount of effort that goes into having a racehorse in prime condition for their target, whatever the level of race they are about to contest. We are all prepared for disappointment, and sometimes even disaster, but fellow participants in the business–and it is a business as much as it is a sport–standing in the way of fit horses lining up to take their chance beggars belief. That grievance is compounded when some of those horses and their connections have travelled from other countries to participate in races which can potentially make a colt a future stallion, or greatly enhance a filly's page for breeding.

France has led the field, not just in its valuable returns to owners and breeders, but in promoting the industry outside the country via its proactive and efficient French Racing & Breeding Committee. It's easy to imagine the members of that team sitting with their heads in their hands this week at the sight of so much of their hard work undone.

While nobody wants to see cuts to the well-financed racing and breeding sector in France, the fall in revenue to the sport from the Pari-Mutuel Urbain has necessitated a tightening of the purse strings, meaning the loss of travel allowances and a restructuring of the premiums paid. In 2018, that means that 60% extra, instead of 64%, will be paid out on top of prize-money to the winning owners of 2- and 3-year-old races, while 4- and 5-year-old races will be paid premiums of 45%, and 25% will go to the winning 6-year-olds. Previously 4-year-olds also came under the 64% bracket, while 5-year-olds and up were eligible for 43% premiums in addition to prize-money.

Clearly these changes will be felt by owners and breeders, who are perfectly entitled to air their grievances, but causing an embarrassment to French racing by disrupting an important meeting, and scuppering the plans of their fellow participants with runners on the day is a staggeringly selfish way to express discontent.

Sellers Beware
Discontent was also in the air at the Goffs Open Yearling Sale in Ireland last week, but it too was misdirected. A sale with an average price of €6,980 and median of €4,700 is clearly not something to be celebrated but the criticism directed at Goffs and Irish Thoroughbred Marketing was harsh.

The comment that a certain British trainer hadn't received a catalogue was a hollow complaint. We've only recently come to the end of a two-week run of almost 2,000 yearlings at Tattersalls' October Sale with another 48 to come in Book 4 on Friday, not to mention 1,700 horses in training to be offered this week. It makes little financial sense for British trainers buying at the lower end of the market to travel to Ireland in search of a cheap yearling, particularly when the pound is so weak against the euro and the extra cost of shipping the horse home has to be taken into account.

Equally dubious was the claim that Goffs and ITM don't do enough to encourage overseas participants. Among the top purchasers last week were Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland, who signed for 39 yearlings on behalf of Chinese owner Zhang Yuesheng; the Italian buyers Razza Latina and Alduino Botti, who took home 15 horses between them; and Bobby O'Ryan, who has extensive contacts in Eastern Europe and bought 19 yearlings.

The fact that must be faced by all breeders with lower-grade mares before they sign nomination contracts for the 2018 covering season is that in Britain and Ireland there remains a dearth of smaller owners. The polarisation in the market, not to mention the disparity in prize-money levels at the top and bottom, has never been more stark, and while it is a cause for celebration that so many big-name purchasers travel across continents to buy high-end European stock, at the lower end it is becoming harder and harder to sell moderately credentialled horses.

The sales companies have responded by extending existing sales or adding new dates to the calendar in a bid to accommodate breeders who want to sell. In Ireland, as in France, the promotional arm ITM works hard, in tandem with the auction houses, to bring in new buyers, but there's a limit to what can be done to attract fresh participants at this level of the business. With foal crops having risen again in Britain and Ireland in 2017, the warning signs of the lower tiers of the market must be heeded if breeders are intending to sell their stock in the coming years.

Welcome Boost For Doncaster
Even without having the chance to extend his tally on Sunday in France, Aidan O'Brien's feat of training a record-breaking 26 Group/Grade 1 winners in a season is truly remarkable and deserves to have been celebrated as it has.

That this milestone was achieved in Britain's final Group 1 race of the season, the Racing Post Trophy, will have been a welcome fillip to Doncaster, which is gradually being erased from existence in the British Flat calendar, at least from a marketing perspective. The one blip surrounding an otherwise excellent QIPCO British Champions' Day on Oct. 21 was the message sent out on television and social media that this was the end of the Flat season. It wasn't. In time-honoured tradition, the turf season ends on Saturday, Nov. 11 with the November Handicap meeting. It also starts at Doncaster with the Lincoln meeting in March.

Part of the Great British Racing remit is to promote the sport to a wider audience and to attract new racegoers. There's little doubt that the level of activity surrounding the Champions Series is doing its bit to capture the imagination of commuters on the Tube and beyond, but let's not misinform them.

The fantastic achievement of Aidan O'Brien was every bit as good an 'end' to the season as the previous week's top-class racing at Ascot, even though his record-breaking Group 1 victory bizarrely didn't count towards him being crowned champion trainer in Britain.

Quality Over Quantity For Beggy
Most jockeys would be concerned if they were approaching the end of the season with only three wins on the board. The picture looks a little different, however, if all three of those victories have come at Group level, including in one of the world's most iconic races.

That's the situation Padraig Beggy finds himself in as 2017 draws to a close, and it's unlikely to be a year he'll forget in a hurry. The 31-year-old, who is employed at Ballydoyle as a work rider, delivered one of the shocks of the season when producing Wings Of Eagles (Ire) (Pour Moi {Ire}) just at the right time to win the Derby at 40/1. His only other two appearances in the winner's enclosure this year have been aboard Hydrangea (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G3 Ballylinch Stud 1,000 Guineas Trial before she went on to win two Group 1 races for Wayne Lordan and Ryan Moore, while this Sunday Beggy rode Flag Of Honour (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) to victory in the G3 Eyrefield S.