Curragh charity race leaves sour taste and greeted with widespread ridicule

A bizarre riding display in the Corinthian Challenge Series at the Curragh last Sunday week has left a sour taste. That's a great shame, because the intent behind the series, to raise funds for the Irish Injured Jockeys Fund, is noble and should resonate with anyone who cares about racing.

There's little to be gained from a detailed analysis of the circumstances whereby the rider of the runner-up Noble Anthem squandered a winning opportunity since the event was not subject to the rules of racing.

This incident, in an unofficial fun event, may seem of limited import in the context of a growing catalogue of incidents that show the workings of Irish racing in a poor light. For example, we had another mistaken identity episode at Killarney last Saturday. Apparently, no lessons were learned from a previous case at the 2021 Galway festival. A genuine error, but one that again betrays a slackness of procedure which could be exploited for malpractice.