horse racing news: MAY 29TH 2021.

​With racing, and history I believe confirms what I am about to claim, it is always one step forward followed by one-and-a-half steps back. The Jason Watson suspension is a prime example. As was the treatment handed out to the recently restored to full employment Robert Havlin.
The B.H.A., I.T.V., jockeys, trainers etc, assure the public at every opportunity that the horse comes first; the sport has at its forefront the welfare of the horse. Which is as it should be, of course. 
Firstly, it borders on the ridiculous to find Watson guilty of not obtaining the best possible placing, for not making real, timely or substantial effort, though his suspension was reduced to five-days due to ‘low level damage to the integrity of racing’, when it is hard to fathom how he infringed the integrity of racing by putting the best interests of the horse before all other considerations. Was he supposed to subject this first-time out two-year-old to a hard race just to satisfy stewards who Watson suspects ‘has it in for him’ due to committing several riding offences in as many weeks?
The horse had lost all chance of winning by cocking its jaw as it came out of the stalls, a fact not even the stewards or the disciplinary panel disagree with. The rule that commits a jockey in a similar situation or worse – a rider must be seen to be doing something and to seen to do something throughout the race – is a catch-all regulation that stewards can turn to their advantage if ‘they have it in for a jockey’. If a jockey on an obviously beaten horse drops his hands and allows his mount to school around can be asked into the stewards’ room at the stewards’ discretion. If the jockey pulls up, there will be no retribution. My advice to Watson in the future, and any jockey that finds himself (or herself) out of contention by the first furlong, is to pull-up and claim you thought the horse might be injured. You can also use the term ‘I put the welfare of the horse first’ as it is now the new mantra for the sport.
Oh, and secondly, this sort of response by stewards and disciplinary panels brings the sport into disrepute. Watson, justifiably, was ‘easy’ on a horse with no chance of winning and had little chance of being placed, a kindness and a testament to his horsemanship that has landed him with a 7-day, reduced to 5-day, suspension of his licence. If he had given his mount nine cracks of the whip, he would have most likely only received a 4-day ban. Meat and drink to those who wish our sport only harm.
There is a thirdly; neither Havlin nor Watson were riding for a trainer with a reputation for betting coups. I suspect neither Gosden nor Charlton even have an account with a bookmaker. And when a B.H.A. spokesman sees fit to add that ‘stewards do an outstanding job up and down the country every day …. Without favour and putting the welfare of the horse and rider above all other concern’ – Really!

Commentators on the sport, again justifiably, to a man and woman, condemn levels of prize money in this country and claim, again rightly, that it is major deterrent to persuading both new people to the sport and existing owners to increase their patronage. And though there are plenty of basement bargains to be had in the sales ring, the top end of the thoroughbred spectrum has got totally out-of-hand. Yes, a horse is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it but when the winner of a maiden at an Irish point-to-point sales for over half-a-million big ones, the world of racing has gone potty. For arguments sake, let’s say Monkfish came up for sale, would he make more or less than a Colin Bowe trained winner of a maiden at an Irish point-to-point? Common sense says of course he would; he’s a possible Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, while the maiden winner might turn out nothing more, as so many of these fancy-priced young horses do, than a handicapper. Potential is greater prized by trainers and the big owners than top-class form in the book. 
If you were to transfer this thinking to the literary world the synopsis would worthy of greater acclaim than the finished novel.