A lamentably out-of-touch intervention - but typical of trainers' association

In a week that has seen the emergence of a government exit plan that suggests society might be on the verge of moving on from the pandemic, the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association had a fair stab at upholding its hidebound reputation.

As a representative body, the IRTA inevitably has to view things through a narrow perspective, and sometimes such entities have to make a lot of noise to get a little attention. That is doubtless what was motivating its chief executive Michael Grassick when he revealed that the association had lobbied Horse Racing Ireland to reinstate 24-hour declarations.

On a practical level, trainers are the ones most affected by the closing of declarations at the 48-hour stage, a point that was teased out by Mark Boylan earlier this week when he flagged the 24 per cent hike in non-runners last year.