Mullins, prize-money, the ‘machine’, mistakes and more

WINNERS ENCLOSURE

What’s been good in racing…

• Cracksman taking the Prix Ganay in tremendous style at Longchamp and heralding the exciting prospect of taking on Enable
• Willie Mullins having a sensational Punchestown Festival, training 18 winners including nine Grade 1s and six races in one day, getting 21 places, and overturning a deficit of more than €520,000 to win the Irish jumps title by more than €800,000 ahead of Gordon Elliott – between them their season’s winnings were over €11m
• Faugheen back as a machine landing the Ladbroke Champion Stayers Hurdle at Punchestown for Willie Mullins who also trained the second and third
• Footpad winning the Ryanair Novice Chase by 12 lengths – a clash between Footpad and Altior whets the appetite for next season
• Paul Townend rebounding from the mental aberration of swerving the last fence at Punchestown thinking it had to be bypassed, and picking up a 21-day ban, to win five further races at the Festival including two Grade 1s
• Beaten to the Irish trainers’ championship prize, Gordon Elliott having “a good bit of luck there” when The Storyteller avoided the carnage to win the Growise Champion Novices Chase
• Peace seemingly breaking out at Musselburgh, where the BHA have granted a temporary licence, following talks to establish a long-term racecourse management team acceptable to all parties concerned
• Joe Farrell winning the Coral Scottish Grand National by a nose at 33-1 for Rebecca Curtis in what has otherwise been a tough season for the Pembrokeshire trainer, with nine winners
• Seeing Cue Card in Sandown’s parade of champions

• Altior making it 14 jump races unbeaten after taking the bet365 Celebration Chase at Sandown by hitting the turbo-charge to fend off 33-1 shot San Benedeto – Altior was one of four Sandown winners for champion jumps trainer Nicky Henderson on the last day of the season

• Corals continuing their sponsorship of Sandown’s Eclipse meeting until 2022, with the prize-money for the first Group 1 of the season, where three-year-olds take on the older generation, to £750,000
• Julia Brooke, with a stable of 16 horses, sending out her first winner of the jumps season with only two days left when Asylo scored at Perth
• Peter Bowen sending two to Perth, Wadswick Court and Lord Napier, which both won under the pilotage of son James
• The Racecourse Association piloting an initiative to combat the use of recreational drugs at tracks
• Epsom re-siting its Blue Riband restaurant in the Queens Stand to free up more space for non-dining racegoers

STEWARDS ROOM

…and what hasn’t been so good

• Having to say goodbye Nina Carberry and Katie Walsh as jockeys, both bowing out after riding Punchestown winners
• The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board saying nothing until the following morning about the evidence given by Paul Townend that he thought he’d heard someone shouting that the final fence shouldn’t be jumped, meaning there was over 12 hours to allow speculation and accusations to build after he careered across the front of the fence, taking race-leader Al Boum Photo and Finian’s Oscar with him
• Social media reaction to Paul Townend’s calamitous last-fence swerve at Punchestown – maybe these people should follow another sport if human error makes them so upset
• Samco and Melon both falling three fences out in Punchestown’s Champion Hurdle

• The Daily Telegraph publishing Thursday’s selections for Perth in Friday’s paper (second-time round they could not improve on tipping one winner)
• Sandown having two bars both called the Stage Bar, making meeting arrangements somewhat difficult (needless to say, the young lady was at the correct Stage Bar)