Things I do not give a single fuck about

[MogwaiC86]

@Fagan_ODowd

The passing of the late Colm Murray was a terrible blow to the popularity of Cheltenham in Ireland. Colm was a great man to lionise the horses on the 6 o clock news as the nation was sitting down to its tea.

Once the INTERNET properly came on the scene horsey racing’s days were numbered. It’s a relic of the analogue age.

An awful lot of sports (not that horsey racing is a sport) have gone like that. The “stars” of today are about 5% as well known in general society as they would have been back in the day.

It’s actually hard to think of a sport that hasn’t been badly affected by this.

Like in professional cycling, you had Kelly, Roche, LeMond, Delgado, Fignon, Eric Vanderaaaaaarden etc. Everybody knew them. Nobody knows Pogacar outside people who actually follow cycling.

In snooker, Steve Davis, Alex Higgins, Dennis Taylor, Jimmy White, Stephen Hendry v Kyren Wilson, Judd Trump, Mark Allen, Luca Brecel, Zhou Xintong, Liang Wenbo and the other Chinese lads? The class of '92 who came along well back into the analogue age are still by far the stars of the sport.

Ellery Hanley, Martin Offiah, Garry Schofield, everybody knew them. Nobody can name a rugby league player now.

Everybody knew Carl Lewis, Ben Johnson, Flo-Jo, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Linford Christie, Said Aouita, Liz McColgan, Yvonne Murray etc. Sydney McLaughlin who is probably the biggest world star currently in athletics isn’t much of a star at all and wouldn’t be very well known outside of people who follow the sport.

Women’s tennis?

Even the GAA has been badly affected by this. I’d say about three current GAA players are well known by the general public. Actually that could be an overestimate.

Horses back in the day just seemed to have so much more personality. Dawn Run, Forgive And Forget, Wayward Lad, Desert Orchid, One Man, Florida Pearl, Danoli, Istabraq, Nick Dundee, Remittance Man (he lived with a sheep to calm him down), The Fellow, West Tip, Durham Edition, Doran’s Pride, Mr. Frisk, these were all names that tripped off the tongue.

Now it’s all Minella Gondola and Minella Traffic Light and Minella Vanilli and A Bout Face and A Plus Boum Photo Tard and A Ma Doo Diallo and Gallop On Des Champs and Lord Des Champs and Diddy A Des Champs and Iknowwhatyoudidlastsummer and Couldntmanijahardshyte and Dubknowbasswithmyheadman.

And nobody has a clue who or what any of them are. Well they’re horses I suppose. But we don’t KNOW any of them.

[Arthur]

Yea the thing with the death of niche sports is well documented in fairness but it seems Cheltenham was huge even more recently than snooker and downhill skiing. It’s downfall seemed particularly sudden.

[MogwaiC86]

@Cheasty

Here’s 62 names for your next horse @thedancingbaby:

Cunt Of The Year

Side Of Ham

Going For Hints

False Balance

That Never Happened

Duplicate Account

Klaxons Have Sounded

Auntie Vaccine

Ratoath Inn

One Of The Greats

Split Season

Friday Night Eighties

Awkward Squad

Doctor McKenna

Keep On Hooping

Spring Soiree

Eastern Seaboard

Reveller

Pretend Expert

Couldn’t Make It Up

One Armed Waiter

Joe Duffy Toaster

A Haunty One

Circle Jerker

Fascinating To Watch

I’m Alright Jack

Company Man

Box Office

Overton Window

Gahliban

Shitgibbon

Hamish McJockstrap

Muldoon

Urban Sophisticate

Tea In A Mug

Mick The Meltdown

Pubehead

Flat Track Bully

Can’t Always Be Summer

Flying In Training

AN Other

Gone Off Topic

One For The Dungeon

Post Reported

That’s The Way It’s Gone

Game Is Gone

That’s A Backtrack

Burnden Park

Cool Story Bro

Celebrity Spot

Screaming Mary

Rastooler

Poppy O’Neill

Self Hating Jew

That’s A Clamping

Seashell Myth

Caul Pollins

Page Teaboy

Forelock Tugger

Powder Pisser

You Just Don’t Get It

Mugged Off

Paedo-Nazi

Sidegroup

Awkward Squad

Ignore Button

He’s Some WUM

Genocide League

Epstein Fury

Trying Too Hard

Two Point Arc

Bulletproof Coffee

Interim Manager

I Pee TV

Never Not Funny

McRapist

In A Cathedral

A Grand Girl

Nobody Cares

[MogwaiC86]

@Arthur

Yea the thing with the death of niche sports is well documented in fairness but it seems Cheltenham was huge even more recently than snooker and downhill skiing. It’s downfall seemed particularly sudden.

Kauto Star and Denman was the last time Cheltenham was remotely part of the monoculture.

I had already long since lost interest but was at least aware of the existence of these horses. I don’t think there have been any “name” horses to run at Cheltenham since that. They came along at the end of the Celtic Tiger/start of the crash and they bookended that period of an Irish way of life very nicely.

Tiger Roll became semi-well known and Rachel Blackmore got some telly awards but that’s all on the back of winning the People’s Race which is miles out on its own as the only thing that can remind people of the existence of horsey racing.

Horsey racing moved away from BBC and latterly I believe has moved away from Channel 4.

I believe it’s covered on ITV but most of Ireland doesn’t receive ITV.

None of this is hard to understand.

[glenshane]

@Ambrose_McNulty

He has to go into town tomorrow to get a pencil case and these cunts won’t give him a minutes peace

@Juhniallio

@BruidheanChaorthainn ?? A middle aged man?? Sure he’s still in short shorts

His college career was but a few years ago…

[Bandage]

@Arthur

Yea the thing with the death of niche sports is well documented in fairness but it seems Cheltenham was huge even more recently than snooker and downhill skiing. It’s downfall seemed particularly sudden

I follow yer man Donald McRae on Twitter. He has some great boxing books & has a feature length interview in The Guardian most weeks with a different sporting personality across all & any sports. He was plugging his piece yesterday with the current champion jockey, Sean Bowen, ahead of Cheltenham & I’d never heard of the guy. And I’m someone who’d have known my Jason Titleys from my Mick Fitzgeralds.

[Massey]

The Grand National would be way more popular with your average joe compared to Cheltenham would it not ?

[Arthur]

Cheltenham was huge among Irish bandage type sports fans though. Doesn’t seem to be as much any more.

[the_man_himself]

It died a death over here when we started winning everything. We’re more suited to the plucky underdog label

[myboyblue]

@the_man_himself

It died a death over here when we started winning everything. We’re more suited to the plucky underdog label

That and the english not particularly caring was a bit of a body blow.

[StoneCold]

This is more or less it; 30 years ago, everybody knew and was familiar with the Oirish horses because there was only a select few who had an actual chance of winning and captured the imagination of the public; 3 or 4 maybe tops over the course of the week .

Nowadays, Willie Mullins would be targeting 3 or 4 winners a day on his own. Add to this the fact that National Hunt horse ownership and having a chance at Cheltenham was once something achievable for the every man; now ownership at the highest level, much like the flat, is concentrated amongst a few millionaires and the appeal has certainly declined somewhat.

[glasagusban]

@MogwaiC86

And nobody has a clue who or what any of them are. Well they’re horses I suppose. But we don’t KNOW any of them.

Maybe something like feature interview articles on their pre-raceday routines could help?

[Arthur]

That sounds like the best explanation I’ve heard

[Fagan_ODowd]

@StoneCold

This is more or less it; 30 years ago, everybody knew and was familiar with the Oirish horses because there was only a select few who had an actual chance of winning and captured the imagination of the public; 3 or 4 maybe tops over the course of the week .

Nowadays, Willie Mullins would be targeting 3 or 4 winners a day on his own. Add to this the fact that National Hunt horse ownership and having a chance at Cheltenham was once something achievable for the every man but ownership is now concentrated amongst a few millionaires and the appeal has certainly declined somewhat.

. Who in their right mind would be cheering for one PJ McManus horse to beat the other PJ McManus horse in a race with four PJ McManus horses, two Michael O’Leary horses, a Rich Ricci horse and a Brian Acheson horse. It has become a plaything for the super wealthy who want to play at being Muldoons and it’s no surprise that the public aren’t buying it. It’s a far cry from the days of Dawn Run and his owner Mrs Hill (although she was a mean cunt too).

[StoneCold]

Willie Mullins was on with Pat Kenny at the weekend and was raving about the popularity of Danoli and Dan O’Neill and how an owner at Cheltenham can feel when the race is ongoing.

I’d say Willie would struggle to come up with a more recent example.

[Biff_Egan]

You still get a few interesting syndicates like the Flooring Porter Galway Roasters

- YouTube

[binkybarnes]

Capitalism has ruined horse racing.

[StoneCold]

Up to early 2025; O’Leary’s operation had won €6.7 million in prizemoney in Ireland in the previous 5 years. 60% of the prize fund in National Hunt racing is covered by the State.

The next time O’Leary is on Newstalk waxing lyrical about wastage of government money I hope the interviewer is bold enough to bring this up. They might also mention the transfer of public funds to already wealthy individuals.

[myboyblue]

@StoneCold

60% of the prize fund in National Hunt racing is covered by the State.

Jesus Christ.

[farmerinthecity]

I have probably as little of interest in horse racing as anyone but I think there is something about the Cheltenham festival that packs a punch.

I think it is the time of year. Days getting brighter, a lot of sport on already and in the run up to Patrick’s Day.

A barman lamented last weekend that people don’t take the week off work for it anymore. Crazy carry on when you think of it.