Hogan and Irish Racing getting back on the Horse
By Shane Brophy
The phrase “Getting back on the Horse” is more than apt for the country as it looks to lift itself out of the coronavirus restrictions and in terms of sport it will take another step forward from next Monday, 8th June when horse racing resumes.
Having been on hiatus since March 24th due to Covid-19 restrictions, the sport will join golf, pitch & putt and tennis in returning to competitive action, although behind closed doors.
Racing resumed in England on Monday with the unusual sight of jockeys wearing facemasks as they rode their horses at Newcastle and that will be the same too in Naas next Monday when racing in Ireland resumes.
One of those eagerly looking forward to the return of horse racing is Cloughjordan trainer and jockey Denis Hogan.
“We have never looked forward to a deadline as much,” he said.
It has been a tough time for the horse racing industry and while it can be easy to focus on the horse, it can be forgotten that it is a huge employer with many stable staff having to be laid off over the last ten weeks and Denis Hogan’s yard in Boherna wasn’t immune either.
“We had to lay off at least half,” he said if his ten strong work force.
“It’s good to have them back but it has been tough on them. Luckily enough they were able to get on the Covid payment.
“Once we got the go ahead for racing we managed to get them back.”
Hogan is also grateful for the support of owners who supply him with horses for training for their understanding during the shutdown of racing since March 24th.
“I have been lucky enough. I have very good loyal owners,” he said.
“We reduced our fees through the shutdown and lot of my owners were thankful and grateful for that. We have to thank them for standing by us too and we look forward to having winners with them again.”
Many of those owners are anxious to see their horses back in action, despite not being allowed to see them in the flesh as only jockeys and trainers are allowed at race meetings behind closed doors for the foreseeable future.
“Even though they can’t go racing, a lot of them want to just see them in action and will give them something to watch on television,” Hogan revealed.
“We have a good few entries to make on Wednesday (for Naas) but it will be hard to get in.
“But on the other side of it not every horse will be able to handle this ground. It’s going to be very quick.”
The recent dry spell has added further complications with horses now having to be ready to deal with the quick ground.
“We had to let the horses wind down at the start, but we are now tuning them up again,” Hogan revealed.
“All the jumpers went out straight away and didn’t come back in until we got clarification.
“We kept the flat horses ticking over. It’s be hard to keep horses fresh and interested. You don’t want them getting bored by doing the same thing every day.
“We had to adjust our work and keep them exercised. Along with that brings some risks when they are not doing as much work as they should be doing and getting the same feed they can get very fresh and that can be a danger as well. A good horse can hurt themselves by being too fresh so we have to monitor that as well. We have had to adjust a lot of things.”
“All the jumpers went out straight away and didn’t come back in until we got clarification.
“We kept the flat horses ticking over. It’s be hard to keep horses fresh and interested. You don’t want them getting bored by doing the same thing every day.
“We had to adjust our work and keep them exercised. Along with that brings some risks when they are not doing as much work as they should be doing and getting the same feed they can get very fresh and that can be a danger as well. A good horse can hurt themselves by being too fresh so we have to monitor that as well. We have had to adjust a lot of things.”
One of the horses Denis Hogan is hoping will make his mark in Naas on Monday is the highly rated Sceptical who has won three of his four races so far, but they have been on the all-weather at Dundalk, as he makes his transition to the turf.
“He could be very good for us,” said Hogan of Sceptical.
“He’s a possible for Royal Ascot the week after so Monday will be a big day for him. All his form had been on the all-weather so on the quick ground hopefully he’ll carry it onto the turf.”