Editorial Something in the grass

The Irish racehorse is a legend on four legs, while the Irish jockey is with two. When it comes to competing in world sports, Irish human competitors do exceptionally well in proportion to the country’s population. But when it comes to horses, the comforts of proportional success can be left aside

The absolute year-in, year-out success of Irish-bred and trained horses, over fences and on the flat, has placed the island at the forefront of a sport that is truly global in reach and popularity.

Horse racing is known the sport of kings. But that’s only part of the story. It’s also the sport of regular folk. Millions of them. Many in Ireland have vivid memories to this day of Arkle, a true wonder horse of the 1960s, bounding over the fences of Cheltenham to win yet another Gold Cup. Arkle was called the greatest Steeplechaser of all time. That is no less the case today.

And yet, new heroes are always looming over the open ditch. In what seems like a ready-made movie script, the father-son team of Ted and Ruby Walsh carried off a unique double this month by winning both the Aintree Grand National in Liverpool and Irish National at Fairyhouse.

In the final days before the Aintree race, Irish punters seemingly raided the national reserves in bringing winner Papillon’s price down from about 50-1 to 10-1. The betting was a little less frenzied at Fairyhouse, where the Walsh combination came out a winner again on Easter Monday. But most punters were smiling broadly nevertheless.

Many will argue that racing form is best assessed scientifically, that the odds can be calculated from form books, blood lines and so on. But with the Irish jumping horse in particular, there is always something extra to take into account. Perhaps it’s the mild weather and year-round grass growth, the lime in the soil or the ability of many Irish horses to make light of heavy going. Perhaps it’s simply something in the Irish air. Who knows? But whatever it is, it’s something special.