Pat Spillane: Horse Racing Ireland’s €72.8m Govt funding is ‘unjust, immoral and wrong’

Some of the criticism is merited. But what bugs me is that other Irish sports bodies are not subjected to the same level of scrutiny as the GAA.

I’m as guilty as anyone. Perhaps, on reflection, I focus too much on the negatives.

One thing I know for sure – there is no danger of horse racing being subjected to the same kind of forensic scrutiny the GAA faces every day.

The two-day Dublin Racing Festival was the big event in the equestrian world last weekend.

All the sport’s cheerleaders on radio and TV were wheeled out to egg it on. There wasn’t an iota of negativity in any of their remarks

Yet on so many levels the festival reinforced the inequalities that plague the sport.

Over €2m was handed over in prize money, but only the elite benefitted. And as for the small trainers getting a look-in? Don’t make me laugh!

On day one, for example, Willie Mullins had four runners out of seven in one race, five out of eight in another and six out of eight in a third.

Day two wasn’t a whole pile better. In one race he trained five of the six starters. In other races he had three out of seven, two out of five and two out of six.

Seven of the eight winners on day two were trained by either Mullins or Gordon Elliott.

Obviously both are top-notch trainers. But, such is their dominance, nobody could argue there is a level playing field in the world of national-hunt racing.

It is a bit like Dublin and Kerry being allowed to enter multiple teams in the All-Ireland.

In my opinion the horse racing industry is pulling the wool over the government’s eyes.

Last year the taxpayer forked out €42m in prize money for horse racing.

Guess what, though trainers and jockeys have to pay tax on their earnings from the sport, race-horse owners don’t have to pay tax on prize money.

You couldn’t make it up. The hard-pressed Irish taxpayer is handing over soft money to millionaires, billionaires and Arab sheiks.

I reckon the first five races on the Saturday of the DRF were won by horses owned by multi-millionaires. Seven of the eight race winners on Sunday were also owned by multi-millionaires.

At a time when there is a cost-of-living crisis, with some families struggling to put food on the table, the government is funding Horse Racing Ireland to the tune of €72.8m, while the greyhound industry receives €18.2m.

This level of government funding is unjust, immoral and wrong on nearly every count.

Maybe I’ll lay off the GAA in the next few months and focus on the horse and greyhound industries. They are not being held to account right now.

Anybody with an interest in GAA couldn’t but be happy with what they witnessed last weekend.

We were treated to a series of cracking matches in both the football and hurling leagues.

And what about the crowds?

There was nearly 20,000 in Páirc Uí Chaoimh to see an enthralling match between Cork and Limerick.

The atmosphere was electric as Cork hit the last three scores to secure a one-point win over the All-Ireland champions.

Yet I’ve heard hurling traditionalist argue that the game cannot be played under lights.

Some 14,000 packed into the Athletic Grounds last Sunday – and the final 20 minutes of the Armagh v Mayo contest produced as good a game as we will see in 2023.

Meanwhile, down in Killarney more than 10,000 paid in to see what was effectively the Kerry B team – they started five of their All-Ireland side – against struggling Monaghan.

Everybody knew the outcome was inevitable, yet supporters still came out in their droves.

As always the games produced a myriad of talking points.

Kerry manager Jack O’Connor said his main priority for the league was to unearth some fresh faces to add to the squad.

So, it was mission accomplished with Donal O’Sullivan and Darragh Roche doing well in the full-forward line, while replacements – Stefan Okunbor and Ruairi Murphy – have potential as well.

But Kerry’s 11-point win needs to be seen in context. Monaghan were one of the most limited Division 1 sides I have seen in action in Killarney for a long time.

The first Monaghan score from play by a forward didn’t come until the 26th minute. In the second half their defence operated the same kind of open-door policy that Kildare had against Dublin in the first half of the 2022 Leinster final.

There is no secret about Kerry – they are at their best when they play the game at pace and move the ball quickly via the foot.

No team can match their kicking game. We saw this in the first 16 minutes of the second half, when they had 12 shots and got 10 scores.

In the Athletic Grounds, Mayo gave a classic Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde performance.

Woeful in the first half, they were two points down at the break, despite having 62pc possession. It wasn’t until the last kick of the half that a Mayo forward scored from play.

They were slow, ponderous and lateral in their build-up with no focal point in their attack, and they rarely kicked the ball.

After the break they opted for a high-tempo, kicking game – and deployed Aidan O’Shea as a target man. They were reborn.

Before becoming Mayo manager Kevin McStay expressed the view that O’Shea is best suited to full-forward. Now he can prove his theory.

O’Shea is a human wrecking ball – and the place for him is close to the opposition goal, where he can do most damage.

But it wouldn’t be Mayo if there wasn’t late drama. Five points up in the 67th minute, their game management went pear-shaped and they had to settle for a draw.

But the late free which allowed Armagh to draw level was dubious, to put it mildly. The dive which earned it would have done Olympic gold medallist Tom Daley proud.

The biggest losers last weekend were Kildare, who endured a humiliating 13-point home loss to Cork.

They are an enigma. They tick so many boxers in terms of physicality and athleticism. They have five top-class forwards in Jimmy Hyland, Jack Robinson, Darragh Kirwan, Daniel Flynn and Ben McCormack.

The Lilies are looked after by a ‘dream’ team management set-up, led by Glenn Ryan. Yet they remain woefully inconsistent.

They had a kind of moral victory over Dublin – losing by a point in Croke Park – in round 1 of the 2023 League. But getting hammered in Newbridge is unacceptable.

I promised at the outset to be gentler in my criticism of the GAA, but the way our young elite players are treated at this time of the year is shocking.

New Meath manager Colm O’Rourke vented his frustration on the topic – and I understand exactly where he is coming from.

For a Division 2 side like Meath the 2023 Allianz League is massively important, because if they are relegated they will end up in the Tailteann Cup this summer.

Thus O’Rourke cannot afford to field a understrength team at any time. He has to use every top player he has.

Meath have four players who have been ‘double jobbing’ – Matthew Costello and Shane Walsh being the most notable.

O’Rourke said he also took off Darragh Campion and Cathal Hickey as their Sigerson quarter-final on the previous Wednesday went to extra time.

He described it as an “abuse of players” and I couldn’t agree more.

Three Cork footballers – Daniel O’Mahony, Cathal O’Mahony and Cathal Shanley – had three games in eight days last week, as had Galway’s Matthew Tierney and the Kelly brothers.

Monaghan manager Vinny Corey said Thomas O’Reilly, who was introduced as a substitute against Kerry, was playing his fifth game in 11 days. The list goes on.

The semi-finals of the Sigerson were played last Wednesday with the final scheduled for next Wednesday, so there is no respite yet for the country’s elite young players. Player welfare anyone?