It’s hardly an auspicious look to have Sunday’s Irish St Leger once again run under the Comer Group International banner.
Photograph: Ryan Byrne/InphoTime was when talk of ‘optics’ in Irish racing was confined to measuring pub spirits.
So, on the eve of this weekend’s Champions Festival, Irish flat racing’s shop-window event of the year, it’s hardly an auspicious look to have Sunday’s Irish St Leger once again run under the Comer Group International banner.
The Comers are in racing, but the Comer Group is recognisable outside the sport as one of Europe’s biggest property firms.
They have backed the Leger since 2014 when it became one of the feature races of the new Irish Champions Weekend format.

If optics are so important how ‘injurious’ to racing’s image is Comer Group’s Irish St Leger sponsorship?