CONFESSION ABUTTED BY PROFUSE APOLOGY.

​The British Horseracing Authority became racing’s governor on July 31st 2007 after the merging of the British Horseracing Board and the Horseracing Regulatory Authority. This genesis moment in a sport I have faithfully followed and loved for over fifty years has not, until now, fully registered itself within what remains functioning of my brain. This error, this blind spot that can only draw ridicule from anyone who consents to read this website that represents both my soul and the wholeness of my being, an error I must have repeated publicly thousands of time since 2007, has allowed anyone who has visited the site and used up their valuable time reading my thoughts and opinions on the sport, not to mention my criticism of the ‘powers-that-be’, a phrase I wish I would use with 100% consistency, to think me a nincompoop of the highest order.  Incidentally, to go off-piste a moment, wouldn’t it be a step forward in Man’s literary and actual evolution if such words as ‘nincompoop’ and ‘ninny’ were to replace expletives when describing foolish behaviour or when expressing an opinion about someone? The F-word has lost all-meaning so ubiquitous has become it’s use, while the C-word, almost always used by men, is hurled about with thoughtless inaccuracy given how poor a heterosexual man’s life would be without consensual access to one.
To return to the subject at hand.
You see I repeatedly, except when I use my favoured term ‘powers-that-be’, and I’ll get around to explaining why I use the phrase rather than B.H.A., as I now know, in a subsequent paragraph, criticise or reference the B.H.B., the British Horseracing Board, an authority that has not existed for twelve years! Dah!
Why? Blind inattentiveness, I suppose. I see, and read, what I expect to see written and not what is actually written. I see B.H. and my lazy inattentive brain places a B where the A for authority dwells. It is, I am afraid, a common failing of mine. Many a time I have to reread the beginning of an article to discover why A is being quoted when I was under the impression the reporter was writing about B. There is, I suspect, a clinical name for whatever psychological condition I suffer from, though inattentiveness or lazy eye might suffice.
I use the term or phrase ‘powers-that-be’ as I am never wholly sure what authority or stakeholder is responsible for whatever I am either criticising or commenting upon. It is a catch-all word that until this moment hid from public view my ignorance. Also, its use might also keep me from litigation if it is obscure who or what I have libelled, defamed, scandalised or slandered. It is an ambition to at least achieve one of the four before I wander off into the far blue yonder.
So there you have it. I have confessed to my gross blind ignorance and I go on oath to suggest that I will be more diligent in the future. Remember, though. I am not a journalist. Neither am I a professional writer. I am nothing more than an enthusiast who has horse racing’s interest at heart. I write intuitively and with little research. It is poor defence, I admit. But it is all I have. Show mercy, I plead. I am not ageing either well or with good grace and downhill is all I have to look forward to, horse racing the only sustainable factor in my life.
 
I have conducted a small degree of research and I find the British Horseracing Authority to be a leviathan of a body. It consists of many bodies, in fact, many of which are called committees. There is the Horseman’s Group, The National Trainers Federation, Professional Jockeys Association, Racecourse Association, Racehorse Owners Association and the Thoroughbred Breeders Association. They make up, I believe, racing’s Stakeholders, a term that does not sit pretty on the ear. Then there is, and here comes the committees, the Audit Committee, Remunerations Committee, Nominations Committee, Rules Committee, Flat Pattern Committee, Jump Pattern Committee, Members Committee, Executive Committee, Racing Group and Fixtures Group. If that lot aren’t enough there is also the Ethics Committee, Stewarding Committee, Veterinary Committee, Medical Advisory Committee, Disciplinary Committee and Racecourse Committee. Added to which there are the Horseracing Bettors Group, Stakeholders Integrity Forum and the Diversity in Racing Steering Group. The B.H.A., the British Horseracing Authority, are accountable, chockfull of integrity, as well as being progressive and responsive but most of all they are credible, except when it comes to four shoes, arm-waving and telling trainers what is best for the horses in their care. In such matters they waved goodbye to credibility a few weeks back. Though in recent days they have clawed back a good deal of their credibility, though they did on this occasion actually seek, listen to and act on advice from a well-pool of greater knowledge.
So from this day forth I will know who and what to criticise when uncalled-for and unnecessary changes in rule and regulation are made – the powers-that-be!