There were some strong comments on Twitter this week after the news broke of the Ronan McNally verdict. Some observers were sympathetic while others felt confirmed in their view that the trainer should be run out of the sport.

Some of the names used on social media could not be repeated here but, toning down that language, it does reflect a view held by many that a series of sudden improvements in horse form, along with those horses being plunged on in the betting, is akin to dishonest behaviour.

Despite Ronan McNally claiming his innocence saying that “I will almost certainly be appealing the charges. I am very unhappy with the findings,” some of the mud has been sticking.

Of course, handicappers and trainers are always going to be at odds. What goes up does not come down at anything like the same speed. So ‘getting a mark’ has to leave something to play with, if you want your horse to win again. Punters are aware this is part of the game, and are clued in. And virtually all trainers have, at one stage, concealed a horse’s full ability with the intention of landing a touch.

One of the arguments used against the IHRB is that they always hit the small guy. More powerful connections are ignored by the authorities when horses show very little form but pop up “for the application of cash”.

That’s life, in many walks of it. If you are the ‘small’ guy playing at the big boys’ game, you simply gotta be smarter.

If the ‘small’ guy is giving the two fingers to the handicapper and officials, it has to be behind their backs, not under their nose, which was the problem here.

The difference between McNally and ‘bigger’ names” is that McNally’s gambles were simply too blatant, too embarrassing for officials. Irish racing was made to look a joke again.

We know ‘bigger’ names are careful not to push it too far. It’s not in their interests to draw attention to themselves. The improvement in form is more subtle, and crucially the betting is done in the last few minutes. They don’t hammer prices overnight. If you are a ‘shroood’ you gotta be shrewd.

What will be more interesting is when we get more details of the evidence, something which is promised when the case concludes. The BHA is often accused of dragging its heels in investigations, but its verdicts do give detailed breakdowns of the investigations and the paths to the conclusion and verdicts.

Much of this is absent from the IHRB release and would be of definite interest when put in the public domain.

Sadler’s sons

NO horse has had the influence on the racing scene like Sadler’s Wells. And that’s the jump racing scene we’re discussing! The death this week of Kayf Tara marks the loss of another of his sons who was a great sire of jumping horses. Yeats remains as his leading son now and perhaps even moved closer to getting a Gold Cup winner to match his sire when Noble Yeats threw his hat in the ring last Saturday. Sadler’s Wells’ son Montjeu still holds sway with his sons having huge appeal as jumping sires with Walk In The Park seemingly being the desired partner of nearly every decent jumps mare.

IT was interesting in the light of the demand for high-class mares at all the major sales in the last months, headlined by Alcohol Free’s sale for 5.4 million guineas, and seeing that Winx has failed to go in foal this year in Australia after losing her first foal, to spin through some of the great racemares of the last half century and note the perhaps surprising lack of success in the breeding sheds.

The standouts among great racemares are of course Urban Sea, Miesque, Darara and Dahlia. However, for disappointments throw in Zenyatta, Pebbles, Pawneese, Dunfermline, Ridgewood Pearl, Danedream, User Friendly, Indian Skimmer, In The Groove, Islington, Balanchine, Habibti, Hatoof, and Stanerra, to name a few.

Petite Etoile was another, though she had some notable descendants. All Along, Allez France, Bosra Sham and Salsabil produced pattern winners, Lochsong produced two listed winners.

Results show that, even ticking all the ‘best to the best’ boxes, there’s a still a huge amount of luck needed.