amateur riders.

​The president of France’s Club des Gentleman Riders et des Cavalieres, a man with the fine and noble name, Paul Henri de Quatrebarbes, writing in today’s Racing Post, is of the opinion that amateur riders should be seen as an endangered species and upgrading the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival so that professional jockeys can ride in the race is blatantly unfair to those in the amateur ranks. 
Here is why he is barking up the wrong tree. The amateur in France may be different to the British and Irish amateur, I am not qualified to say. With the obvious exception of David Maxwell, who is throw-back to the days of Brod Munro-Wilson and others who were true Corinthians, the leading amateur riders are professional in all but status. No one denies that Derek O’Connor is nothing but a wonderful horseman/jockey who he has the talent to ride any horse in any race. But his life is 100% horses. He is not a dentist, shopkeeper or financier, as it seems the leading amateurs in France can be. And though Sam Waley-Cohen was and is a businessman by trade, he was also as good an amateur as we have seen on British racecourses since the days of yore, a man who rode the old Aintree fences as well, if not better, as any professional. And anyone who believes the excellent Patrick Mullins is an amateur is deluding themselves. His life is racehorses, seven-days a week, from dawn to dusk, no doubt salaried as his father’s assistant, with the keys to Closutton as his inheritance. 
I am not of the opinion that there should be no place for the amateur rider in British racing apart from the point-to-point field. Too many of our top National Hunt jockeys have started out as amateurs to have that door closed to those with the ambition to follow in their footsteps. In Ireland, I suspect, the sport would collapse without the input of amateurs. Indeed, as an extreme example of someone who began the legend he has gone on to become, Ryan Moore’s first ride was as an amateur.
I do believe, though, there are too many amateur races on the flat and wish there could be a grand final that all the amateur races could lead up to. The enthusiastic true amateur who rides out at a professional stable before trading jodhpurs and riding boots for either a shirt and tie or skirt and blouse before heading off to their day-job should be applauded and encouraged. Our doors and windows should be open to all. Surely, though, one or two amateur races a week should be enough to satisfy the demand.
As I have said before, there remains at the Cheltenham Festival two-races restricted to amateurs, there is only one race restricted to conditional jockeys and no race restricted to professional jockeys. Indeed, it is possible, no matter how unlikely, that, with the exception of the Martin Pipe Hurdle, an amateur rider could ride in every race at the Festival, including the National Hunt Chase. If that is not preserving and encouraging the amateur rider I do not know what else can be provided for the cause.