It was nice to get a break from the existential pressures of the lockdown, from dwelling on the brutal contrast between the superabundance of the past and the circumscribed present. Not to mention the ominous future. Temporary relief came in the form of a two-day racing festival at Leopardstown and the first weekend of the Six Nations rugby. Bread and circuses in abundance.
Outside the annual Cheltenham Festival, these were the best two days of NH racing I have ever viewed. The first day was the most interesting. Honeysuckle (above) is an unbeaten mare but there was a feeling that distance-wise she may not be up to Champion Hurdle standard. Her performance in the Irish Champion Hurdle was so convincing that she is now favourite for the Cheltenham version. She led from start to finish and easily beat a field comprising all her major Irish rivals (including Saint Roi who I now officially disown). Earlier the Willie Mullins juggernaut rolled on with Chacon Pour Soi and Energumene hacking up in their respective trials. However, the last race on the card, the bumper, featured the most impressive winner of the day Kilcruit (also trained by Willie Mullins). This was a race designed to tell us who was the best bumper candidate in Ireland for the Cheltenham equivalent next month. Every runner in the race had winning form – the crème de la crème. Kilcruit won hard-held with his jockey looking over his shoulder for non-existent challengers. If he stays sound he could be another Istabraq or Arkle. Mind you he’s already a 6-yo so he needs to get a move on. The following day threw up another Cheltenham hottie trained by Mullins: Monkfish won as he pleased and should join Mullins long list of Cheltenham winners. The Gold Cup trial was a personal disappointment for me. I had hoped Minella Indo would redeem himself after his Christmas fall at Leopardstown and go on to glory at Cheltenham. Instead he jumped slowly throughout and his bad mistake three fences out only confirmed what was becoming inevitable. It was a poor enough trial with the Mullins plodder Kemboy winning easily. My old school-mate Joe Donnelly’s Al Boum Photo looks to have little serious opposition at Cheltenham. In a mud-bath Native River could be an alternative after his performance at Sandown last Saturday.
Over to the rugby. I didn’t watch France versus Italy as I don’t approve of public humiliations and it’s clear that Italy are now only in the tournament because we all like visiting Rome very two years. Scotland versus England was an absorbing contest. It was clear from the start that Scotland were well up for this. They showed more passion and energy than a strangely listless England and were worth much more than the modest margin of victory. Hogg was heroic and while Fin Russell is not quite as cool as he thinks he is (and missed a possibly vital kick at goal) he does supply that unpredictability that makes things happen.
Over to Ireland versus Wales. First, lets be clear that had Peter O’Mahony not been sent off Ireland would have won easily. Maybe the ref could have let him off with a yellow. It was so early in the game (and the tournament) – and clearly adrenalin-fueled carelessness rather than evil intent. Even reduced to 14 men, only for a few silly errors and misjudgments we should have won anyway. Wales were poor and we held them easily in the tight. The problems came behind the scrum with our stretched defense and with errors in judgement by Lowe particularly. He showed positional naivety for both Welsh tries. For all his flair, I don’t expect to see him picked against France. But he was not alone Earls, Sexton and Burns at the end all made kicking mistakes that cost us. And Beirne was penalized unjustly near the Irish line. A egregious error by that officious little prick Wayne Barnes (Joe Schmidt please note). On a positive note, Henshaw and Beirne were heroic and Keenan and Stander weren’t far behind. It’s yet another one that got away - particularly annoying against the Welsh who have robbed us before at Cardiff (isn’t that right Mike?).
