LET me begin by saying I have no problem with developing Ireland’s National Hunt programme for three-year-olds, once the changes improve the current system, of course.

I am not the first to criticize Horse Racing Ireland’s recently-unveiled initiative of Academy Hurdles, nor will I be the last. In a Letter to the Editor last week, Noel Meade questioned the policy that winners would retain their maiden status, likening it to “something out of Father Ted.”

Maybe it’s the influence of my comedic tastes, but for me, it’s more akin to Only Fools And Horses. Trotters Independent Traders would see opportunity in the “maiden” element, as surely that is who this rule is meant to appease – traders?

HRI only acknowledged the trading aspect with one line in their press release, stating: “For pinhookers or breeders who wish to sell their horses, retaining maiden status increases opportunities and thus the likely value of the horse.”

You could understand buyers being more interested in an Academy Hurdle winner who they could then win a maiden hurdle with- the same applies to the point-to-pointers in demand at the sales. In last week’s edition, Eogháin Ward shared concerns that the Academy Hurdles would take horses that would otherwise have run in four-year-old maidens between the flags.

Commercial pressure

Four-year-old maiden winners usually fetch the biggest prices at the sales, and some push their horses to make the grade in them, rather than wait for the five-year-old equivalents. Indeed, how many pricey pointers never amount to much, the same for six-figure breeze-up horses?

If the same were to happen to three-year-old National Hunt horses aimed at Academy Hurdles, it would be to their detriment. It goes against HRI’s claimed objective that “to encourage young NH horses to enter training earlier but yet have access to a programme that does not require them to be rushed should they win a NH Academy Hurdle race.”

HRI’s press release also claimed “If Academy hurdle winners lost their maiden status they would be precluded from bumpers and maiden hurdles and have significantly restricted Spring festival opportunities available to them.

“They would have to step immediately into winners/Graded company against far more experienced rivals whilst there would also be a risk that connections would be encouraged to rush them in this instance to compete at Spring festivals which is not the logic behind the initiative.”

Surely, the logical solution would be to improve subsequent opportunities for three-year-old winners? When interviewing Nicolas Bertran de Balanda for last week’s edition, he stressed that there is an excellent programme for four-year-olds in France, which means horses are not pushed to race at three, if they are not ready.

Blind leading the blind

HRI are mirroring Britain’s programme of Junior Hurdles, and both authorities will now honour the maiden status of each country’s respective winners. It is strange that, in an attempt to ‘copy’ France, HRI are copying the UK, especially after the Irish dominated the 2024 Cheltenham Festival.

The BHA introduced their Junior Hurdles in the autumn of 2022, and the results of the inaugural season are decidedly uninspiring, their participants now five-year-olds, approaching six. An average of six ran in each of the 21 races (two more planned races were abandoned), and only 56% of runners have since won under National Hunt rules.

Just one of the participants went on to earn blacktype - Jaminska, winless since January 2023, was beaten over 10 lengths into third in a listed mares’ novices’ hurdle, and is currently rated 106.

In my opinion, the Irish authorities have become blinded by their own fixation on three-year-old hurdles. In this publication, Irish Racehorse Trainers’ Association chief executive Feidhlim Cunningham expressed the organisation’s frustration at the initiative, saying that HRI had ignored the concerns shared by a working group of 14 IRTA members.

Key point

In the course of my job, but also due to my general curiosity, I have often asked industry shareholders on their thoughts regarding the French/precocity debate. Many have pointed out that French horses are broken as yearlings, let off, return for some work a year later, and are let off again.

While it is a welcome development that both Goffs and Tattersalls Ireland plan to offer two-year-olds as part of their store sales in 2025, it hasn’t been said that they will be broken and riding. As I have also learned while picking the brains of those successful in the NH spheres, the current Irish system cannot cater to breaking NH horses from the yearling stage.

Pre-trainers’ yards are generally filled with flat horses then, and those who specialise in National Hunt would already be full, many of them training point-to-pointers at the same time. There are more suitable pre-training yards in France, thanks to their tradition of starting horses earlier.

I’ve often asked those in the jumps scene if they think it’s the French pedigrees that produce more precocious horses, and I’ve received different answers, one being that Irish stock is changing through the importation of French mares and stallions.

Sacrebleu

One of HRI’s answers in the ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ document was to claim that Irish blood is often present in French success, but it was filled with errors.

It’s difficult to decide whether the errors were made genuinely, or in an effort to support their theories, for I would have presumed that they understood the difference between an Irish-foaled horse and an Irish-bred horse, both of whom carry an IRE suffix.

HRI stated “Many French bred horses who flourish following an early career start have an IRE sire and also an IRE damsire with recent examples such as Lossiemouth and Irish Point.”

Lossiemouth’s damsire is Gentlewave (IRE) and Irish Point’s is Fragrant Mix (IRE), both of whom carry an IRE suffix as they were foaled in Ireland, but both are, in fact, assimilated French-bred.

This happens when French breeders send their mares to Ireland to foal there, as they will be next covered by an Irish-based stallion, before returning to France with their foal.

The rules are strict – the dam must not leave before November 1st of the year preceding the birth of the foal in question, the foal must be imported into France with its dam before September 1st, and must be subsequently reared in France and have not left before June 1st of its yearling year.

HRI made the same suffix error with their examples of Il Etait Temps’ sire Jukebox Jury and Gerri Colombe’s sire Saddler Maker. They also mentioned Fastorslow, who is by Saint Des Saints, who even carries a FR suffix.

Furthermore, Il Etait Temps and Irish Point are both AQPS, meaning ‘Autre que pur-sang’, translated as ‘other than pure blood.’AQPS horses even have their own race programme in France, so I have no doubt that proud AQPS breeders would be horrified to hear that HRI are trying to claim that Irish blood was integral to any of their success.