a good m.p., 'the going is good', good news from a scumbag, good reform in ireland & a good cause.

​The horse racing industry is worth £4-billion to the British economy. The treasury receives £300-million directly from British Racing, and the industry employs 100,000 people. So why is the British Government doing all it can to drive the racing industry into extinction. As with the blatantly flawed Net Zero zealotry, it is all to do with ideology. The problem they are trying to solve is worthy, I admit, yet horse racing has very little to do with the problem. On-line gambling is where the problem lies, casinos and poker games. Anyone who would like to be better informed on this issue I direct to today’s Racing Post and a piece written by serving M.P. Dan Carden. I have not looked-up which side of the house he sits as I do not want to prejudice myself against him.

Came across what may well have been the first outing of Great British Racing’s ‘The Going Is Good’ campaign yesterday and I was not appalled by the content. Light and fluffy, perhaps, and it made no great claims other than anyone attending a race-meeting is sure to have a memorable time.  That said, Newbury’s Shaun Hinds has proved that the best way to boost attendance is to address the people living in the local post-codes, a marketing campaign that must have cost a fraction of the G.B.R.’s £3.2-million. 

Our repulsive, lying, dictatorial, traitorous and smug Prime Minister, announced in Parliament yesterday, though he did not actually mention it to M.P.’s as I doubt it matters a jot to him, that the upshot of his belly-licking negotiations with the repulsive, lying, corrupt and dictatorial E.U., is that life will soon be easier and less costly to transport horses across the Channel to France. This new freedom of movement for livestock is also very helpful to French trainers as they get caught up in the red tape when returning from a journey to a British racecourse.
And do not applaud either our Prime Minister or the E.U for sorting out this mess as politicians were responsible for it in the first place.

Reform of the Irish novice chase programme, especially the withering of the Beginners’ Chases, is to be applauded. You can have 20 runners in a Beginners’ Chase, though with only a handful in anyway competitive. Get within ten-lengths of a Willie Mullins ‘Cheltenham type’ and you are handicapped out-of-all-proportion to the horse’s true ability. Though as Willie Mullins will also be diverted to novice handicaps, I suspect the problem is being more moved sideways than solved. The Willie Mullins problem is a hard problem to solve, to be sure. If every other trainer in the whole of Ireland cannot solve the Willie problem, what hope does Horse Racing Ireland have?

Outside of equine charities, which I still believe horse racing could do more to help, the racing industry has a great record of helping human charities raise funds. Jane Buick has become the driving force behind the charity ‘Autism in Racing’ and is heading up ‘The Great Big Ride’ event next month to raise awareness and funds. It is a call for people in the sport to get mobile on horse, bike or shank’s pony and, if possible, to send a video of the day to the charity. There is also to be a mini open day in Newmarket for families of an autistic child to tour the stables taking part. I believe the day is to be limited to ten families.
One should never brag about what you do for others, though I do believe the racing industry should make the public more aware of how it looks beyond its own borders when it comes helping human charities.