THE Irish Derby has come in for plenty of comment and scrutiny over the last few years.

Field size, the quality of that field and general racecourse attendance has aroused some negativity.

But it is worth comparing it in the wider scope of the big flat races of the season.

With a bigger scope of horses to attract, the Coral-Eclipse, traditionally one of the season’s undoubted highlights, and with a famous roll of honour to rival any race, doesn’t compare too well either.

Eight line up today including the star three-year-old City Of Troy but the previous four-year average field size was just 5.25, including two four-runner contests. The Coronation Cup doesn’t fair that much better, 5.5 average over the four-year period from 2020 to 2023.

Sandown attendance last year was 10,603, up from 9,500 the previous year but still down from the pre-Covid 2019 figure of 13,741. And the Euro 2024 England match at 5pm today is likely to affect the figure.

That said, we should not grumble at the sight of City Of Troy in action again, now under hugely favourable conditions, having proven his stamina in the Derby.

In a Jockey Club media call for the race with Aidan O’Brien on Thursday, it was recalled that this is the 40th anniversary of Sadler’s Wells’ success in the race, one of the key horses in the Coolmore breeding empire.

Aidan said: “He was probably one of the first horses I was kind of fascinated about, I would only have been young and at school at the time.”

On his latest Derby winner he repeated: “All the way along he looked different. When he started racing what he was doing looked very different. Everything he does is unusual, everything he does, we haven’t seen before.”

So this famous race sets up as a blank canvas - all about one horse. We know City Of Troy is superior, he has to show it in real style today.

DESPITE the increased focus on data being used in racing analysis, aiming to guide us in the right direction when perhaps racecourse evidence is scare, especially in the first half of a three-year-old’s season, a horse’s optimum distance is still being worked out.

It was interesting to compare the striding data offered before the Derby at Epsom when looking back at the two Derby results.

With a lower number of strides per second indicative of a weak stayer, the average of a Derby winner at Epsom was 2.11 strides per second.

Of the first three, City Of Troy came in at 2.13, Ambiente Friendly at 2.12 and Los Angeles at 2.10. The data indicated that Dancing Gemini (2.25) and Ancient Wisdom (2.21) were unlikely to stay the mile and a half, which was likely proved true.

However, come the Curragh, it was Ambiente Friendly who came up short, looking like he didn’t fully stay and not as well as Los Angeles. The corresponding times for a mile and a half were 2m38.32 for the Derby on good to soft at Epsom and 2m 28.15sec on good at the more demanding Curragh.

Again, it was a case of horses for courses, and it’s never a one size fits all. Despite his fine run over the mile and a half at Epsom, Ambiente Friendly fell short.

As the trainer of Northern Dancer, Horatio Luro, was quoted at that time: “They all stay, it’s a question of how long it takes them.”

I’M afraid racing had another case of our old friend ‘lack of cop on’ falling at the final fence again last week.

While serving a three-month suspension for breaking anti-doping rules, Tony Martin was present as normal at Newcastle when Alphonse Le Grande, now running with his sister Cathy O’Leary’s name as trainer in the racecard, won the Northumberland Vase Handicap.

Martin is serving a suspension following Firstman testing positive at Dundalk in January 2023 for lidocaine, a local anaesthetic prohibited on racedays and it was the third Martin-trained winner in four years to fail a drugs test.

It was also found during the yard inspection in February that Martin’s medicines register had not been updated since August 2022 and that “a large number of veterinary medicinal products…needles, syringes did not have an accompanying prescription or label”.

Now, we know the suspension does not prevent him from being at the races but most people would not expect to see him there. The image of Martin, present, apparently giving riding instructions and celebrating - a proverbial two fingers to the authorities - was a terribly bad look for racing. What punishment was he actually serving? Was there a need to be so public?

After the IHRB said that it will be “examining the conduct” of Martin at Newcastle, an apology was made. With all that has gone on in Irish racing over the last few years, I’m surprised someone didn’t offer a humorous betting market on which is the most plausible excuse for embarrassing behaviour?

1/1 “I went to support the owners as they had been good enough to give the horse to Cathy.”

2/1 “Regrettably, while in transit, a tarp covering the horse came undone.”

1/2 “I received a call and, without thinking, I sat down to take it.”

The simple question anyone would ask is - what is the purpose of a suspension? When someone is found guilty of breaking the rules, there is a punishment. And a deterrent for anyone else to be negligent in their duties, and with an in-built expectation to be responsible for the good image of the sport.

How is it any deterrent for offences or negligence in being the licensed trainer? And at a time when racing does not need bad publicity.

Reading the detail in judgements in the Luke Comer case suggests it is a thankless and tedious task for authorites in crossing all the ‘ts’ in a prosecution and appeal. But last weekend’s events reflects badly on both parties, one unable to really impose a deterring punishment, and one happy to do as much as possible to exploit that. Just what racing needs!