Horse racing

Dreams to reality

March 17th, 2010 by Donn McClean

I had a bad dream last night. I dreamt that The Package didn’t get his head in front before the winning line in the William Hill, but that he was in front a stride after it. One stride. I also dreamt that they moved the final hurdle a half a furlong up the hill and that Get Me Out Of Here didn’t catch Menorah in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Would he have caught him in my dream (strange things happen in dreams) if they had had a half a furlong more after the final flight as opposed to before it? Who knows. Interesting thing, though, about the moving of the final hurdle: few people seemed to know about it (in my dream of course). It was a big decision to make, it is a key change to the set-up of the racecourse. Of course, it is the same for all horses, they all have to jump the flight in the same place, but it was a material change to the set-up of the racecourse, we probably should have known (dreamt) about it earlier.

I dreamt that two girls fought out the finish of the National Hunt Chase (it couldn’t happen in reality, could it?), and that the gloss was taken off what was the finish of the week so far by the imposition of bans for excessive use of the whip, or whatever they call it these days, and that the ban rules one of them out of Aintree but not the other one. I dreamt that people who had no involvement, and no more than a peripheral interest, in racing were looking on and scratching their heads at the bizarreness of it all, certain that they could never get involved in a sport that had rules they couldn’t begin to understand.

I dreamt that the five-year-old favourite in the RSA Chase did what five-year-olds are apt to do in the RSA Chase when they are getting just 1lb from their elders, not 10lb, and didn’t win, fading in the home straight after travelling like said dream, and I dreamt that Davy Russell gave Michael O’Leary’s horse Weapon’s Amnesty a genius of a ride – it’s all about rhythm – to run out an emphatic and still under-estimated winner of the RSA Chase and erase the memory of Solwhit yesterday for both himself and trainer Charles Byrnes. There was also a cameo in my dream for Barry Geraghty and Colm Murphy, who between them had their faith in Big Zeb completely vindicated when they all teamed up to win the Champion Chase from Forpadydeplasterer, an Irish 1-2, with Master Minded no better than fourth.

And I dreamt that an Irish-trained horse did not win the Bumper. Definitely a dream.

* For more of Donn’s thoughts, visit www.donnmcclean.com.

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Categories: Horse racing

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