horse racing matters. believe it.

​Of course, nothing truly matters. The health of your family may matter 100% to you but to the vast majority in the world other peoples’ families hardly matters at all. When you take every aspect of life into account, we are all on a one-way journey to whatever lies beyond the grave. In 1914 young men left their villages to volunteer to help save our great country from the tyranny of our arch enemy. Their sacrifice and courage did matter then, and perhaps I am being cynical as their bravery helped stem the tide of evil, allowing us to live the lives we do today, but in 2020 their suffering in the trenches and amidst the mustard gas is now but a page in the history books.
So, when I say horse racing is virtually the only reason I plod on in this life, you may shake your head and take the same cynical approach to me as I do to the 1st World War and to very much everything else in life. But horse racing does matter to me and the name of this website does not refer to, necessarily, matters relating to horse racing, but to horse racing having a meaningful role in the hi-tech, A.I. world in which we try to live out our lives.
You see if you believe the 1st World War does matter and will matter all down through the decades and centuries to come, then horses should concern you too, as if it was not for their sacrifice and willingness to serve, the war might not have been won, indeed it might have proved more bloody than it already was. In 1914 the army did not have much in the way of mechanical pulling power and it was the horse that pulled all the heavy artillery into position. Some of the horses running today may have antecedents amongst that equine number as thoroughbreds as well as plough horses were commandeered for war work. We owe horses a debt that perhaps will never be repaid, no matter how well we treat them in our time here on Earth.
Horses and horse racing matters to society, too, though the appreciation will be hard to find. Once upon a time the economic prosperity of the country was held fast by animals working alongside man. Nowadays all that has changed with only police and guide and assistance dogs the equal of the racehorses that work alongside the men and women who look after and ride them. When we watch a horse race, we witness a spectacle hardly changed for near on two-hundred-years. Owners betting on their horses to win, jockeys trying their darndest to win, trainers and staff praying for a good and safe outcome. Horse racing has ridden in tandem over the decades with the history of our country.
Horse racing also matters economically, especially to government, as betting duty swells the coffers of the exchequer and helps pay for the upkeep of our roads, hospitals and schools. Let’s not fool ourselves, the duty from betting was the reason horse racing was the first sport to take place after lockdown. It is why rails bookmakers and spectators will return to racecourses on the same day, be that at Goodwood or somewhere less bright and shiny.
Horse racing also matters because it provides a demonstration of humans placing another species, if not on pedestals or above us, at the very least on equal terms. Thanks in part to Bryony Frost, jockeys are now less afraid to display their emotional attachment to their mounts at the end of a race, a breaking down of professional neutrality that is most welcome. The horse is our foremost attraction. People outside of the world avoid this truth when they criticise the sport, that the number one element is not the trainer, jockey or owner but the horse. When the question is asked ‘who won the 2019 Grand National?’ the answer is never Gordon Elliot or Davy Russell but Tiger Roll. In the roll-call of classic races the first name you see is the name of the horse. The horse is king, or queen, the lesser runners princes and princesses, which is why when tragedy strikes the tears that roll down the cheek are real, not the crocodile tears of a dropped catch or missed penalty.
Horse racing matters because it teaches us to be generous in defeat as on any one card there can only be a small percentage of winners. If you can’t take defeat on the chin and be better for the experience you might as well play golf or stick to rose growing. Horse racing, indeed the horses himself, has a propensity to kick the both the wary and unwary in the teeth, the crutch and anywhere else that is tender and open to breakage. It is why wins, big or small, are celebrated as you never know when the next one will come along.
Horse racing also matters because in the midst of battle there is beauty, the beauty of the horse, the courage of the horse and jockey, the steadfastness and stockman’s eye of the workaholic trainer, the eternal hope and deep pockets of the owner, the love and dedication of grooms. 
Horse racing matters because it brings together all aspects of society. In the winners’ enclosure or on a stable visit royalty will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with someone born on a council housing estate, if not exactly equals, respectfully acknowledged as part of the same endeavour, in a more peaceful way but similar to the days when ordinary men followed in train to do the bidding of their king or queen in battle. Monarchs did not win battles as the history book might like us to think, it was the spilt blood of loyal supporters of the monarch who gave them victory.
If you are an outsider to our sport and judge us as people who use horses for our own selfish entertainment, you are mistaken. Horses matter. Horse racing matters. This sport is pure working class underpinned by the wealthy, the elite, the dreamers who work all the hours God-sends to breed or train a horse that might one day grace Royal Ascot or Cheltenham. But not the privileged. Everyone involved in horse racing are the privileged, privileged to spend their days alongside the most beautiful and giving animal on the planet. Where would any of us be without horse racing? Where would the horse be without racing? Horse racing matters, make no mistake.