After all that unpleasantness at Bethpage, Friday night’s start to the 42nd Breeders’ Cup is racing’s chance to pull off its own Ryder Cup without underlining how it’s a rare problem that can’t be made even worse by waving flags at it.
US racing’s grandiosely titled “World Championships” has on the whole escaped the worst jingoistic excesses of golf’s biennial diversion into a team format fundamentally at odds with its natural state.
That’s partly due to how this is a resolutely US show. The 14 Grade One races worth more than $34 million (€29 million) are essentially about selling the sport to a domestic audience. European runners add a certain credence to the “World Title” stuff, but are basically an exotic diversion.
In the age of Donald Trump, however, there’s always a scoundrel percentage in wrapping Old Glory around any sort of competition with foreigners. The US president has normalised insult to a once-unimaginable extent.
The Ryder Cup’s central appeal in this part of the world comes from sticking it to ugly American stereotypes. The particularly raucous European celebrations in New York last month were rooted in just how unprepossessing so much of the US can seem these days.
[ Aidan O’Brien touches down at Del Mar to oversee Breeders’ Cup squad ]
Fan behaviour at Bethpage was dreadful, so presumptions that the racing game doesn’t have its own percentage of Maga merchants are deluded. In any rush to take sides, only a very thin veneer needs removing for some good ol’ boy prejudices about effete “Yer-peens” to emerge.
Perhaps the saving grace will prove to be the stick that’s often used to beat racing’s sporting credentials: for most punters, where the winner comes from is immaterial compared to having enough dough on it. Wrapping a flag around any losing docket is a bitter kind of patriotism.
So, Aidan O’Brien is unlikely to have to resort to any Rory McIlroy-style “Shut the f**k up” exclamations over the coming two days. But it will still be interesting to see if the broader context manages to elbow its way to the running rail at Del Mar in California.
Aidan O’Brien will have high hopes for Minnie Hauk at Del Mar. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty
Perhaps the most famous flag-waving moment in Breeders’ Cup history came 24 years ago when Tiznow repelled Sakhee in a memorable finish to the Classic, prompting announcer Tom Durkin to declare “Tiznow wins it for America!”
Considering it was less than seven weeks since 9/11 and Belmont was just 20km or so from Ground Zero, it wasn’t hard to understand the sentiment.
[ Jockey Christophe Soumillon aiming to bridge 20-year gap at Breeders’ Cup in Del Mar ]
Racing’s capacity to generate national sentiment around its central players transcends borders. It’s 99 years since Phar Lap was born and he’s still an Australian icon. Arkle’s skeleton remains a tourist attraction at the Irish National Stud.
Back in the day, the commentator Peter O’Sullevan routinely framed close finishes up the Cheltenham hill in terms of nationality. Arkle was for Ireland and Mill House for England in the most famous Gold Cup of all in 1964. That’s despite the latter being born and bred here and ridden by an Irishman.
It reflects how where any horse is trained defines its supposed nationality. Nijinsky was bred in Canada, owned by an American, ridden to his greatest victories by an Englishman and spent decades in Kentucky as a sire. But the fact he was trained in Ballydoyle for two seasons still makes him “one of ours”.
And that’s all fine and a bit of fun, until it isn’t. The unfortunate habit of connections of Irish-trained winners at Cheltenham returning to the enclosure waving Tricolours was colourful at first, then tiresome and ultimately carried an edge of rubbing the hosts’ noses in it.
Much wider history meant a lot was going on in such gestures. However, arguing it was harmless rings hollow. It will mean nothing when the cyclical nature of Anglo-Irish racing dominance turns in Britain’s favour again and Union Jacks getting waved at Punchestown are regarded as just a bit of fun, too.
Breeders’ Cup action begins on Friday at Del Mar. Photograph: Sean M Haffey/Getty
The Ryder Cup element to US racing’s biggest show can work both ways. Home feelings got particularly bruised when a brief interlude of swapping dirt for an artificial surface saw European horses get too competitive for comfort. The swap back to dirt was quick and unceremonious.
But it’s an annual Breeders’ Cup curio how British visitors suddenly get very Europhile when totting up victories. Or how part of Blighty is Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin operation when it suits. Plenty on the backstretch will tell you how some cross-channel stalwarts have got up a lot of noses over the years with some very haughty behaviour.
Perhaps the greatest guarantee of decorum being maintained though is how not a single European runner competes on dirt this time. If the home team dominates on its own surface, there’s usually resignation rather than resentment at the visitors doing well on the lawn.
If peace is kept it will leave minds everywhere to concentrate on the universal urge to back a winner. Who knows, the prim polo-shirt brigade might even get to take notes on decorum from some coarse punters in the cheap seats.
SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND
Betting value at this Breeders’ Cup can revolve around the French star GOLIATH (9.41) in Saturday night’s Turf. The last time Francis Graffard’s gelding encountered fast ground he beat no less than Bluestocking and Rebel’s Romance in last year’s King George. A quiet run up to this included a German Group One victory last time. Minnie Hauk looks the one to beat, but she had a hard race in the Arc. A general 8-1 about Goliath looks generous.
There could also be value about JONQUIL (11.05) in the Mile on Saturday. Drawn widest of all on his last start in Keeneland, he lost all chance by blowing the start. Colin Keane is back on now and if getting away cleanly, the Balding runner could make a mockery of big odds.
The first Grade One of the National Hunt season is at Down Royal on Saturday and with an inch of rain forecast before the BetVictor Champion Chase, an emphasis on stamina could see STELLAR STORY (2.40) emerge on top.
