Goodwood was glorious but it highlighted the range of problems facing the sport

Irish trainer John F. O’Neill owes the stalls handlers at Goodwood a good drink or two. In Ireland this season he has run just three horses – Tullyhogue Fort, Daily Pursuit and Pink Fire Lilly – in a total of 13 races at an average starting price of around 100-1. None has won.

Last Saturday, Pink Fire Lilly, who had finished twelfth of 13 in an undistinguished race in Killarney on her previous outing, lined up with three others at the start of the Group Three William Hill March Stakes. The favourite Hoo Ya Mal had a Timeform rating of 131, the Queen’s horse Perfect Alibi was rated 114 and the Cheveley Park Stud’s Animato 102. Pink Fire Lilly’s rating was a mere 73. She had no chance and could be backed at 125-1.

But John F. O’Neill is clearly no fool. With comparatively few entries for the Goodwood feature, all Pink Fire Lilly had to do in the hands of jockey C.D. Maxwell was to start and finish the race to guarantee picking up the fourth prize of £4,570. If one of the three much classier horses had an off day he could even dream of taking home the third prize of £9,150. The only problem came when Pink Fire Lilly showed considerable reluctance to enter the stalls. Had the stalls team not finally managed to squeeze her in, the plan could have come unstuck. But they did, she ran and the Irish team could collect their money.

The absurdity is that if O’Neill had entered Pink Fire Lilly for a low-grade Class 5 or Class 6 handicap at an English racecourse, the British Horseracing Authority would have banned her from competing: he found a loophole and who is to blame him for exploiting it?

No racecourse runs a better show than Goodwood.