Swing's vulnerability weakens stallion status

In the aftermath of Celtic Swing's dismal performance in the Irish Derby on Sunday, sentiment flowed almost as freely as the water which had been drenching the course for more than a week in the hope that the "wonder horse" would arrive. It was the end of an era, the extinction of hope, and despite the thousands of pounds which went down on the 5-4 favourite, the true cost, apparently, was far greater. It was, so some said, the death of a dream, and how can you put a price on that?

The answer, in fact, is very easily, particularly if you are a bloodstock agent or breeder for whom pricing up dreams is part of the job. The best colts earn far more at stud than they ever do on the track, and Celtic Swing's value as a stallion took a fierce blow to the chin two days ago, when he could finish only eighth, beaten almost seven legnths by Winged Love, who was himself behind Celtic Swing in the Prix du Jockey-Club.

His seconds must now try to patch him up before the next round, a task which would be much easier if a convincing excuse could be found for his run on Sunday. However, none was forthcoming from Lady Herries' stable yesterday after a vet had examined Celtic Swing, who was reportedly lame on his off-fore shin after the race.

"The vet has seen him and is quite happy with his legs and with everything else," Nick Babington, racing manager to Peter Savill, the colt's owner, said yesterday. "His blood count was also fine and he will be taken out of the King George tomorrow and given a bit of a rest. His next target is, hopefully, the St Leger."

In the absence of an obvious medical reason for Celtic Swing's defeat, attention will inevitably turn to the fast going at the Curragh, and in particular its effect on a colt whose imperfect conformation - in layman's terms, dodgy front legs - has long been identified as his principal weakness.

If a horse is poorly proportioned, the stresses of racing will also be exerted unequally on its body, making minor injuries more likely. Celtic Swing, indeed, suffered from shin splints as a juvenile.

The crucial point, of course, is that while viruses disappear, physical problems may not, even when a colt retires from the track to a quieter life of procreation. "If a horse is walking at 10 to 2 rather than dead straight as it comes towards you, it's something that can be thrown [ie, passed] on and it's a conformation fault which people don't like to see at the sales," a leading bloodstock agent said yesterday.

"If you stand straight in front of a horse and drop a line from the point of its shoulder to its feet, the perfect conformation is that it dissects the knee directly through the middle, and goes down through the ankle and the cannon bone with perfect symmetry either side."

Yet while Celtic Swing's legs are not ideal, nor are those of many horses (one of Sharpo's legs was twisted almost side-on, but it did not stop him becoming one of the finest sprinters since the war). It is unfortunate, then, that the persistent attention focused on Celtic Swing's forelegs, not least by Savill, may not just be unfair, but financially damaging.

"Mr Savill used that as a big excuse for not running Celtic Swing in the Epsom Derby," the agent said, "but I think that was a little unnecessary. Horses with much worse legs have acted at Epsom, and while his may not be perfect, he's not crooked either.

"It wasn't the brightest remark for his owner to make before Epsom and I felt then that he wasn't helping his stud value because it's getting ingrained in people's minds that this is an incorrect horse. But I saw him last year as a two-year-old and I certainly didn't think he was as bad as everyone makes out."

To be fair to Savill, who started the season with a potentially priceless asset, the 1995 campaign was always likely to present as many problems as triumphs. The unfortunate irony may be that, in his attempt to preserve the value of his stock, Celtic Swing's owner has simply made the traders more jumpy than ever.