credit due where credit is earned.

​Firstly, yesterday I posted an idea for centralising prize-money, where the number of races and meetings was determined by how much money was in the pot. The hazy concept of the idea that sponsorship money should go into a central pot, with the race the sponsor is associated with still carrying its name, and the prize-money for that race becoming what the sport can afford. I forget to take into account entry fees, which obviously would plump-up prize-money from the central pot. It remains, I suspect, an idea with severe limitations, though I remain convinced someone with a functioning brain could mould it into a concept worth consideration.
As I get older the dumber and more cynical I become. I thought the deal promised in the small-print at the outset of life was that the older you become the wiser you become. (Shrugs shoulders and soldiers on).
I am not always fair when it comes to the B.H.A., my thoughts tainted by my belief that the sport should be captained by someone with a life-long knowledge of both racing and horses, not by someone from the corporate world looking for a good little earner for 3-days work every week. So, in small recompense I now wish to praise the B.H.B.
At least I wish to say a ‘jolly well done’ to James Givens, formerly a successful trainer, who is now director of equine regulation, safety and welfare at the B.H.A., a role he is fully qualified for as he is also a qualified vet. Too often, and this criticism must be levied at not those who twiddled their thumbs at the B.H.A. for quite a long time, though for centuries the Jockey Club, when they ruled over the sport, swept equine fatalities under the carpet as if were the sport’s dirty secret. Now, no doubt driven by James Givens, there is transparency with the subject, with an on-going research study funded by the Racing Foundation, and to taken on and funded by the B.H.A. as a necessary undertaking, cataloguing every fatality and sending out questionnaires to all relevant parties to understand the whys and wherefores of every racecourse death, even if the death occurs days after the race. The project is backed by the Royal Veterinary College’s department of epidemiology.
The aim of this study is to find answers to why horses suffer fatalities during a race and if there is a common denominator to find a solution. Equine fatalities are one of the major reasons why people are put-off attending race meetings and if the work undertaken by James Givens can reduce the percentage of tragedies on racecourse that tenuous ‘social licence’ may be easier to achieve in the future.
Yes, I believe there are people in the corridors of power at the B.H.A. who are doing fine work on behalf of the sport.
Back on track. The B.H.A. have just announced two new appointments, and here I must ask if this is money well spent. Some, I am sure, will say these are vital appointments. I will take some convincing. There is to be a head of environmental sustainability. Why? Does the sport have a need for someone to go on a tour of British racecourses advising on how to collect rainwater from rooves and how to recycle paper cups? Would a newsletter achieve the same aim for far less expense? I will not name the person who has achieved this leg up in her career and I wish her well. To quote (poorly) Sheldon from ‘The Big Bang Theory’, ‘I recognise the work engineers do, I just do not understand why they do it.’
Climate change is a ruse, by the way. Hot, cold and rainy weather used to be called weather when I was growing up, when temperature gages used by scientists were based in open countryside, not at airports, car parks and on the side of buildings. Do not start me off. Just leave it alone. C.O 2 in the atmosphere is lower than fifty-years ago and so on and so on.
Also, there is now a head of social impact, suggesting he heads-up a large team, doesn’t it? Social impact! What does that mean, anyway?