The senior handicapper has mounted a robust defence of the weights given to Irish horses when they run in Britain, insisting “there is no semblance of any anti-Irish bias”. Phil Smith made his statement at an media event here to promote the Cheltenham Festival in a fortnight’s time, when he also resisted an Irish owner’s call to publish the ratings which Smith and his team keep for Irish horses.
Smith argued that Irish raiders still enjoy a disproportionate amount of success at the Festival despite his team’s policy of generating a new rating for each Irish-based horse rather than simply accepting the Irish handicapper’s figure. “Just concentrating on here in the Festival, there’s been 11 Festivals where we’ve kept our own ratings,” he said. “The British strike-rate has been 4% and the Irish strike-rate has been 6.2%. So if anybody could have a complaint it would be the guys here, not the people over the Irish Sea.”
In a printed statement issued alongside the weights for the Festival handicaps Smith added: “The jumps handicappers are confident that, based on these figures, there is no semblance of any anti-Irish bias and that keeping our own Irish performance figures has given our handicaps greater equality and fairness.”
The subject, which became such a hot potato a fortnight ago when weights for the Grand National were published, was topical once more on Wednesday as Michael O’Leary made good on his threat to withdraw his best horses from the National. The Ryanair chief executive took advantage of the first “scratchings” stage to reduce his interest in the race at Aintree from 16 horses to eight, taking out big names like Outlander, Don Poli and Empire Of Dirt, having decided they had been harshly and capriciously handicapped for the race by Smith.
“We might run two or three in the National,” said Eddie O’Leary, who manages his brother’s racing interests, and he mentioned Rogue Angel and Thunder And Roses as being especially likely to line up at Aintree on 8 April. O’Leary called on Smith to put his ratings for Irish-trained horses in the public domain, which would allow Irish connections to know where they stood without having to make an entry for an English race in order to find out.
“The English handicapper is absolutely entitled to have his own ratings for Irish horses,” O’Leary said. “Our only issue is why they aren’t published. Anything rated over 125, at least, ought to have its own rating in England as well.
“Phil Smith’s been on At The Races, saying they spend 18 hours a week on those ratings for Irish horses, so why not put them out in the open? Why the cloak and dagger? Publish them. Publish them and then we have no complaint.”
Smith said that could be done if he was given the additional manpower to convert race-specific performance ratings into a definitive rating for each horse. “In Ireland they employ two handicappers to rate all those horses. If we have two new handicappers in Britain, then it can be done here as well.
“But the British Horseracing Authority isn’t the richest organisation in the world and I think they’re pretty happy with what we do know with the Irish horses. So they would say: ‘Why?’
“A lot of Irish trainers will phone us and ask, ‘What rating would this horse get if I entered him now?’ We usually call back a quarter of an hour later with a rating and we’re wedded to that. If that horse runs soon after, that’s the rating he’ll have.
“Tony Martin and Gordon Elliott and a lot of the smaller guys do that. If Mr O’Leary wants to contact us with a list of horses, we’re only too willing to help. We want Irish horses to come over here, we want them to be as successful as the UK horses. Anything we can do to facilitate that we’re more than happy to do.”
O’Leary had not had time to digest all the weights published yesterday for his Festival entrants but was gratified to discover that the aptly named All Hell Let Loose had been given the rating he expected, 137, in the Close Brothers Novice Handicap Chase. Smith, meanwhile, pointed out that the total number of Irish horses entered for the four days at Cheltenham is a new record at 715, an 11% increase on the previous record of 647 in 2015.
Noel Fehily is expected to replace Barry Geraghty in the saddle aboard Buveur D’Air in the Champion Hurdle. The six-year-old, who has been at the top of the betting on the race since a smooth success at Sandown last month, is one of many JP McManus-owned horses that need a jockey for the Festival following the chest injuries sustained by Geraghty on Saturday.
Nicky Henderson, trainer of Buveur D’Air, indicated on Wednesday that Fehily is likely to be back aboard the horse. “I suspect so,” he responded when asked about the subject. Fehily was retained by Buveur D’Air’s previous owner and has ridden the horse in six of his 11 races, winning a Grade One at Aintree on him last spring.
Henderson added: “I saw JP on Monday and I don’t think anybody’s really discussed it because there’s so many horses involved in the conundrum. Obviously we’ve got My Tent Or Yours in there [the Champion Hurdle] as well.”
The Lambourn trainer predicted that Mark Walsh, who rides many McManus horses in Ireland, would come in for a number of the rides Geraghty would otherwise have had. “There are a lot of jockeys that do know some of the horses.”
McManus also has the Alan King-trained Yanworth in the Champion Hurdle and some firms have him as 7-2 joint-favourite with Buveur D’Air. Asked about who was likely to ride Yanworth, King replied: “I’ve no idea. We’re going to speak at the weekend. We do need to find out. Whoever it is, I’d like them to come and sit on him and have a school beforehand.”
Do you have a preference? King was asked. “Yes, but I’m not saying anything,” he replied, laughing. Geraghty is the only jockey who has ridden Yanworth over hurdles. King is likely to want to use Wayne Hutchinson, who has been the principal jockey at his Wiltshire yard for several years.
Fehily is also thought likely to come in for the ride on the Stayers’ Hurdle favourite, Unowhatimeanharry, having won a Grade One on him at the last Festival before McManus bought him. Harry Fry, who trains the 11-8 hotpot, said no decision had yet been taken.
Tips for Thursday races, by Chris Cook
(all times GMT)
Chelmsford
5.20 Justice Rock 5.55 Home Again 6.25 Atalante 6.55 False ID 7.25 Watersmeet 7.55 World Of Good (nb) 8.25 Whatalove 8.55 Color Force
Ludlow
2.20 Miss Williams 2.50 Kap Jazz 3.25 Seymour Star 4.00 Dusky Lark 4.35 Two Swallows 5.05 Persian Snow 5.35 Centurius
Newcastle
2.10 Safe Voyage 2.40 Royal Flag 3.10 Codeshare (nap) 3.45 Magistral 4.20 Bridey’s Lettuce 4.55 Ibazz 5.25 Tarboosh
Taunton
2.00 Perspicace 2.30 Skint 3.00 Spiritofthegames 3.35 Fort Worth 4.10 The Unit 4.45 Monte Wildhorn 5.15 One Brilliant Day
