letters to racing post (PART2). wHEN I LIVED IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE.

​Firstly, a correction. The total of letters the Racing Post has kindly published is 103, one less than I stated, as one cutting, for reasons I do not remember, was duplicated.
Due to the amount of yellowing, the cutting I assume to represent the first letter to be published was my wish to see The Jockey Club overthrown due to their policy of public relation exercises, rather than positive reform and my belief they were selling the sport to bookmakers and putting the punter before animal welfare issues.
I am pleased to discover that even back then, the 1990’s, I was campaigning (through the letters column) on the issue of horse welfare, pointing out that it was hard to defend the sport on welfare grounds when a jockey only received suspensions of 4 or 6-days for transgression of the whip rules, yet for the offence of giving a horse a school round or dropping their hands in the shadow of the winning post and losing a place because of it, a jockey would receive a ban of 21 or 28-days. Give a horse a hard time and receive 4-days suspension; give a horse an easy time and receive a punishment of 21-days. I was even an advocate back then of an independent inquiry into the use of the whip and trials of races where the whip was only carried for safety purposes.
I was particularly riled by handicappers wanting to see all horses ridden out to the finishing line, even those with no chance of reaching the first 4-places. This was tantamount to animal cruelty in my opinion and thankfully the Jockey Club decided to apply commonsense and go no further with the proposal.
I was also belligerent in my defence of Tony McCoy’s ride on Pridwell in the Aintree Hurdle when he beat Istabraq in very soft ground. The Jockey Club took a dim view and suspended him and made him attend the British Racing School in order to improve his whip action. As I said, the public thought it a masterly ride – the ride of the season – the Jockey Club, for reasons of a public relations exercise – took the opposite view. I also suggested as McCoy and Timmy Murphy were due to attend the B.R.S. at the same time, that it might be an idea for the Jockey Club to mandate all jockeys go to the B.R.S. for annual refresher courses on how to use the whip so as not to offend the Jockey Club.
I put forward the idea that the quality of the Triumph Hurdle field should be protected by a 4-year-old handicap hurdle being added to the Cheltenham Festival. I am not saying this was my idea but it did come to pass. I should extend my apologies to (Sir) Alaistair Down, a literary hero of mine, as he hates the 4-year-old handicap and if he had his way he would get ride of it.
I was also banging on about the lot of the journeyman jockey, suggesting a few races a week could be restricted to jockeys who not ridden a certain number of winners in the previous 6 or 12-months. It has come to pass, though not significantly enough to stop me sending the Racing Post letters on the subject in the future.
At Leicester during this period, Norman Williamson dropped his hands close to the finishing post and was nabbed on the line. Of course, he suffered a suspension. Of course, some of the masters of punditry were up in arms about it, some of them wanting Williamson hung, drawn and quartered over the incident. I pointed out that not all punters lost out, as many would have backed the horse that was first past the post and that Williamson was human and like all humans could be expected to err once or twice during his career. I also drew readers’ attention to the number of jockeys injured at the time, some of them seriously, just as contrast to the welling of crocodile tears.
I often bemoan my letters rarely either cause debate or effect anyone’s thinking. When summer jumping was implemented, I made the point that while racecourses had to provide ground no worse than good-to-firm in June and July, there was nothing to stop them racing on hard or firm the rest of the year. My view prevailed.
At this time, The Jockey Club were beginning to consider changes to the Grand National, a topic I rage against even to this day. They wanted a better class of horse running in the race, even though the 1973 Grand National was perhaps the classiest Grand National since the days of Golden Miller. I suggested they should first ensure a 4-week period between the Cheltenham Festival and the Grand National meeting would be a good place to start. I also suggested the Midlands Grand National should be run either in February or as the major race during the summer jumping period. I also proposed, as I would today, that the Whitbread, as it was, should be reduced in distance to 2-miles or half-a-mile further to mirror the start of the National Hunt season.
I was no advocate of rolling over and allowing sponsors to tickle the racing belly. Sponsors are vital to our sport. I thought that then and, sadly, believe it today. But they should not be allowed to steal the title of a race and replace it with the name of the sponsor. Why we could not have the Epsom Derby brought to you by Betfred, for instance. Or the Aintree Grand National brought to you by Randox Health. The Newbury Handicap Hurdle sponsored by Ladbrokes or whoever now sponsors the big hurdle in February.
I proposed it would put a quick end to the whip debate – it is disheartening that the whip was an issue in the 1990’s and here we are 30-odd years later and it remains a point of contention – would be not to suspend the jockey but withdraw prize-money from the owner. No jockey would knowingly break the rules if it meant the owner employing him would receive no prize-money for winning the race.
Finally, even then, as now, I was calling on owners to keep horses in training as 4-year-olds. Coolmore took no notice of my plea and retired Giant’s Causeway as the end of his 3-year-old season. Perhaps, he too, was a special horse, with special genes.