Irish Champions' Weekend

Bar the Bull

Bar the Bull

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So I read that HRI are planning to have a Champions Weekend. Brian Kavanagh, chief executive of HRI, said:

“I am pleased that HRI has been able to create the inaugural Irish Champions Weekend in September 2014, taking place at Leopardstown on Saturday, September 13 followed by the Curragh on Sunday, September 14.

“It is planned that Irish Champions Weekend will host at least ten Group races, including up to five Group One contests, along with several valuable Premier Handicaps. These two meetings will be promoted and marketed jointly, with the ambition of attracting a major international audience to Ireland.

“Irish Champions Weekend also opens up the opportunity for a new, exciting Tri-Nation series of Autumn Championships linking the top three racing nations of Europe, starting with Ireland’s weekend, followed by the Arc weekend in France and culminating with the British Champions Weekend of racing in October.”
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Sounds good to me. I thought they should have done something mid-summer, but this is a good enough idea. Looks like it will be the week after the all-Ireland hurling final, which is for the best.

I am trying to work out what the races will be.

Group 1 races
Matron Stakes
Champion Stakes
Moyglare Stakes
St. Leger
National Stakes

Group races
Kiltiernan Stakes (1m2f Group 3)
Blandford Stakes (Fillies and Mares 1m2f Group 2)
Solonoway (1m Group 3)
Tower Stakes (2yo 6f Group 3)
Renaissance Stakes (6f Group 3)

Premier handicaps
September Handicap (7f)
Irish Stallion Farms EBF Handicap (1m6f)
Autumn Fillies Handicap (1m4f)

Other races??? either
Amateur Derby (1m4f)
Breeders' Cup Juveline Trial Stakes (1m for 2yo, won by Battle of Marengo last year)

I think this is an excellent initiative. No matter what way you cut the above races, you would get a very interesting weekend of racing. I bang on about it quite a bit, but there is surely an argument to push a bit of money at the sprint (Renaissance) and try to get it marked up in grade to encourage Irish sprinters.

What are the thoughts?
 
It's a good idea, the only doubt being the impact on the Irish Champion. By putting the date back a week they are only three weeks from the Arc.

I hope they put some package together for visitors that includes transport to the tracks.
 
I'm due on my honeymoon on those dates next September
I hear Ireland is nice that time of year darling.......:-) :-)
 
Doncaster and Ladbrokes unsurprisingly are furious .

I wonder whether HRI would like it if Royal Ascot was moved to clash with the Irish Derby - how did they get this past the European Pattern Committee?
 
I don't think they have just cause to be furious.

All of the races exist already. They are all being run at the Curragh or Leopardstown in early September already, so none of them will move by any more than 7 days.

Nowhere has it been mentioned that any special concessions are being given to the courses, such as upgrading any races that don't deserve it. So I don't see the effect on the Pattern at all.

To me it strikes me as a common sense move. They may consider losing the Kiltiernan to earlier in the summer given the Irish Champion is on that weekend, but other than that they just seem to be doing something with little impact, that can only help in making Irish racing easier to promote. They may still 4uck it up, but I think it will be good.

Doncaster have done very little to promote the St. Leger, which has been in decline for a long time now. The facilities there are absolutely horrible. Basically an aircraft hangar under the stands. I have little sympathy if they want to criticise other racecourses and do nothing material themselves other than having crap concerts after racing.

Tickets are expensive, the support races aren't nearly good enough to stretch it to four days, and they should also be looking at being responsible for the way the flat season starts with a whimper.
 
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The St Leger is a non event, kind of like a better Chester Cup ;)

This proposal makes sense, if they brought it back to beginning of September
 
A great occasion for a GWID flat style.
No Group 1 sprints in Ireland Euro.
Since Phoenix Park closed and M50 scuppered Leopardstown sprint track the only suitable fast straight 5 and 6 furlong track is in Mallow (Cork), Point to Point country.
The Curragh is too stiff for all bar Benbaun and J Fanshawe's aeroplane of 2011!
 
Hamm said:
The St Leger is a non event, kind of like a better Chester Cup ;)

This proposal makes sense, if they brought it back to beginning of September
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The reason they cannot apparently is the all Ireland hurling final which is always on that Sunday .Bizarre and parochial but the reason all the same .;)
 
The St Leger is a great race and has much revived in recents years - Channel 4's appalling decision to only cover part of the meeting has mucked things up rather .

If Donny had any brains which i doubt they would seek to upgrade the Park Stakes to Group 1 and switch it back to a mile as moving the QEII has left a big almost three month gap between the G1 mile races in the UK.
 
Who, apart from serious racing fans, is interested in the Craven? No-one. Channel 4 made the correct decision for themselves.
 
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Hamm said:
Who, apart from serious racing fans, is interested in the Craven? No-one. Channel 4 made the correct decision for themselves.
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Who apart from racing fans is interested in Chester, York's may meeting etc ? That is as daft a posting by you for some considerable time - nice to see you haven't lost your touch :lol:
 
Who apart from racing fans are interested in anything other than four or five events?

Donny might not be everyone's fav course but I went to the leger the first year of the new stand and it was rammed. Think it's been the same since so nit sure why they have to promote any more than they do

I like the race. Nothing wormg with a classy stayer in my book and i couldnt give a fck if the winner is worth sod all at stud. Breeders do not determine my enjoyment
 
Ardross, you don't seem to understand the commercial realities of something like the craven meeting. If you want to watch it,get RUK or stream online.
 
You seem to forget that when the Craven was last on TV bookies were not allowed to advertise on TV. I suspect that advertising revenue ought to make it a revenue neutral at worst decision to show it .
 
Interesting point Aragorn.
With Dubai sponsoring C4 and Craven meet the time Godolphin horses start running in England it should make sense to show it. Given the timing of Al Zarooni debacle this year they were probably glad it was not televised though !
 
Greg Wood suggests the creation of an Irish champions weekend will put a stop to any chance of the British version moving to mid-September. I doubt it could ever have happened in any event.


Ascot's big autumn event looks stranded after Irish seize the day


Ireland's new Champions Weekend not only clashes with the St Leger but stymies hopes of moving Ascot's Champions Day
Nijinsky-and-Lester-Piggo-008.jpg
Nijinsky and Lester Piggott when claiming a historic Triple Crown triumph in the 1970 St Leger at Doncaster. Photograph: Bob Thomas/Getty Images

There was much satisfaction in Ireland last week following the announcement that the country's 2014 programme will include a new "Champions Weekend" in early September. The Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on 13 September will be followed 24 hours later by the Irish St Leger meeting at The Curragh and the combined programme will involve "at least 10 Group races, including up to five Group One contests", according to Brian Kavanagh, the chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland.
HRI's initiative was not received quite so warmly at Doncaster, however, since 13 September was already pencilled in as the final day of the St Leger meeting, with the oldest Classic as the centrepiece of the card. Mike Dillon, the veteran PR man for Ladbrokes, the Leger's sponsor, heard about the plans along with everyone else when the press release dropped and he did not take it lying down.
"There are all sorts of issues," Dillon told the Racing Post, "the number one being availability of jockeys. Then they are talking of 10 Group races over the two days, which would affect races like the Park Stakes, Champagne Stakes and Doncaster Cup. When you have a Classic, the world's oldest, as you did in 2012 with house-full signs and a Triple Crown contender, it is surely common courtesy to keep us informed."
The end result of the competition may be a move for the St Leger to either the previous weekend – when there would be a clash with Haydock's only Group One of the season, the Sprint Cup – or the following one, which is less congested but only two weeks before the Arc meeting in Paris. That could force owners and trainers to choose between a run at the Leger meeting or a trip to France and, in a beauty contest between Paris and Donny, all but the most parochial Yorkshire folk would probably concede who is likely to be the winner.
Dillon, in fairness, has every right to be irritated by the Irish initiative. Ladbrokes have put a great deal of money into the Leger meeting and its most famous race and have done so as an investment, not a charitable donation. As a business, it wants to get the maximum possible return on its money and anything which diverts the attention of racing fans away from Town Moor next September will prevent it from doing so.
Whether Ladbrokes or Doncaster had any right to be kept informed about HRI's plans, however, is more debatable. HRI did, in fact, run the idea past the British Horseracing Authority, which raised no objections, but the Irish racing authority's primary responsibility is to defend and promote racing in Ireland, not Yorkshire.
And the Champions Weekend initiative does both because it strengthens Ireland's hold on the precise spot in the calendar where, in an ideal world, Britain's Champions Day at Ascot would be. As such, as Kavanagh pointed out last week, it raises the prospect of an "exciting tri-nations series of autumn championships linking the top three racing nations of Europe, starting with Ireland's weekend, followed by Arc weekend in France and British Champions Day at Ascot".
The St Leger is surely big enough and old enough to look after itself in mid-September, regardless of a little extra competition from across the Irish Sea. It has clashed with the Irish Champion Stakes or Irish St Leger card for many years in any case with no obvious problems when it comes to attracting competent jockeys and no effect either on the attendance figures, which seem to improve from one season to the next.
The possibility that British Champions Day will eventually move to its logical position in mid-September, however, now seems more distant than ever. Instead it will sit uncomfortably between Arc weekend and the Breeders' Cup, which is a compelling rival attraction for the biggest bloodstock operations. In both 2011 and 2012 the meeting was blessed by Frankel, above all, and also tolerable weather. Its good fortune will not go on forever but the best chance to get it into September has now been missed.
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it appears to me, given the recent initiatives launched by various arms of the British and Irish racing establishments, that co-operation has gone out the window and there is a battle for the ascendancy.
 
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