Dundalk switch of races is significant

THE classics are finished for another season as last weekend"s St Legers were run in heavy conditions at both Doncaster and the Curragh. The race in England looked a weak contest with no exceptional colt on show and was won by Conduit, giving Sir Michael Stoute his first win in this race, the oldest of all the classics. Tommy Stack"s filly Unsung Heroine, having only her third outing, ran a blinder to finish second and may prove in time to be the class act in the race, while the Oaks winner Look Here, in third place, gives the form a solid look. Irish Derby winner Frozen Fire ran way below par and will have to stay in training next year to consolidate himself as a champion. On a personal note, I have to say that watching Frankie Dettori playing to the crowd after the race made me squirm with irritation. I know the majority of you probably enjoy this, but for me he goes over the top and is a camera junkie! Yes, 'he is good for racing', but I just find the predictable OTT celebrations annoying in the extreme. Back at home, AP O"Brien won our St Leger with Septimus by an amazing 13 lengths, thus giving Aidan the 'grand slam" by winning all the Irish classics in one season, a feat last achieved 73 years ago. Take the winner out of the race and you could argue that it was a very poor group one, and no-one could blame you, but at least the winner is a very good horse and is now on course for the Melbourne Cup. Seamus Heffernan, the stable"s second jockey, was winning his third Irish classic of the season - not a bad job to have by his own admission! The ground at the Curragh on Sunday turned very heavy after continuous rainfall and the feature event, the Bank of Scotland (Ireland) National Stakes, turned into a real slog, with Mastercraftsman having to dig deep to get the better of the English challenger Shaweel by a short head. John Oxx"s colt Arazan was third, two and a half lengths back, and I still feel he will turn out to be a smart three year-old. You could feel sorry for the second jockey Greg Fairley as he was up against Johnny Murtagh who is virtually unbeatable in a tight finish and especially at the Curragh where he is THE mastercraftsman! We ran third in the Blenheim Stakes (listed race) with Ohiyesa, giving her some very valuable black type, and she looks the sort that could make a decent three year-old. That"s something to look forward to over the winter, I"m sure. While all this was going on I think the performance of the weekend was at Longchamp in the Arc trial, the Prix Vermeille (group one). Here we saw Zarkava put in a breathtaking performance to overcome missing the break substantially and come from last place to win snugly by two lengths. After this she was knocked into 6-4 favourite for the Arc and looks like she is invincible at the moment. The weather is really taking its toll on racing this year and the usual Listowel week has been lost because of it. Huge credit has to be given to the authorities for making an early call on this and transferring all the flat races to Dundalk, thus giving us trainers a chance to make a plan with our horses so we could enter them up. The jump racing will go ahead at Listowel on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, hopefully, while the flat cards commenced on Monday evening, and continue on Friday evening and Saturday, all up at Dundalk. This is what Dundalk was designed to do and there should be no reason to lose flat meetings any more. Race tracks get a substantial fee from TV rights when they race and because of this they don"t like to lose their fixtures (understandable) and I know that the authorities like to give them every chance to fulfil their fixtures. But this should not supersede the priority that racing should come first and foremost. For flat racing, if the fixture is in doubt 48 hours prior to the event then all efforts should be made to save it by moving to Dundalk. Cancelling it and transferring it to another date four or five weeks later is not the same as it can mess up the programme list. Tracks should not be allowed to hold the industry to ransom by trying to hold onto fixtures just to receive their TV money, regardless of the owners and trainers whose horses are trained to the minute to coincide with the fixture list. Speaking of the fixture list, I have seen the 2009 version and I am disappointed to see that we have only two Dundalk meetings in February and March before the start of the flat season on 22nd March at the Curragh. This to me seems a wasted opportunity to run some meetings during the off season where we could get some of the lower rated horses out. This could ease the numbers later on in the season. I know I am in the minority for suggesting this, but the lowest grade of horses (ie, 45-60) should not be running for the same purses as the higher rated horses. If we dropped the 45-60 purses to €5,000 and put on more of them during this period the good ones would work their way up the system, while the bad ones would be dropped out of the system. Sounds simple! It is simple. It just needs doing and if horses are not competitive in this low grade then they should not be in training - end of story! As I said, Dundalk is on three days this week, which is a huge bonus for me, as I did not plan on running any horses at Listowel because of the ground. So anything I get from this week"s racing is a bonus, but I will be running plenty in the hope of getting a winner or two. Saturday is the biggest day in the calendar for Ayr racecourse as they run the John Smith"s Ayr Gold Cup, which is a very valuable heritage handicap worth over £90,000 stg to the winner. We ran second in this last year with Benwilt Breeze which was just caught on the line by the Kevin Ryan-trained Advanced. To be so close and yet so far was heart breaking, but I was delighted with the horse, as for me he has always performed above himself and is a delight to have in the yard. His owner Sean Shields has been very patient with him this year as we decided to train him specifically for this race next Saturday. Unfortunately, the ground is going to be very heavy at Ayr next weekend and won"t be ideal, but I think we will take our chance anyway as the horse is not getting any younger! Our stable stars Summit Surge, Elletelle and Dohasa are all in great order and because they need fast ground they are being held up a bit. Also, due to their high ratings there are no races for them at Dundalk, so we have to be very patient with them just now. Apart from the weather, everything is in good order here and we are very happy with the way the year is going and are hopeful that we will have some more horses ready to win soon. Visit the Ger Lyons website: www.gerlyons.ie