RESPECT FOR ALL MATTERS HORSE.

​If you were to peruse the archive of this website, and please do as amongst the less illuminating ramblings of my mind there are gems of wisdom to be found, you will no doubt form an opinion of me as someone who likes a good moan, someone who is somewhere between hard and difficult to please, someone with a nostalgic inclination toward a time that he has only experienced as historical record. All of which maybe true. Personally, though, and I know myself better than most, I believe myself to be honest and true to who I am, and if my jumbled ramblings reflect a brain that could not be sold for pennies as spare parts on e-bay then so be it.
But there is one heartfelt view I hold that I hope everyone who visits horseracingmatters.com can agree with me about: that our sport has no value if the horse is not held in the highest regard and that throughout its life it is accorded respect for both its magnificent athleticism and for the joy it brings to the lives of us, the lesser of the two beings.
This respect should not be mere lip-service. The public should have no lingering doubt as to the sincerity of those who derive a living from working with racehorses that they have only its best interests at heart. We should not, though, publicly sugar-coat the lives of racehorses or those who care for them. We should not distribute a sanitised version of the day-to-day life of the racing yard. As someone far more eloquent than I shall ever be once said: horse racing is not Hollywood. Horses can be recalcitrant, stubborn and temperamental. It takes great patience and skill at times to persuade them to behave as we have want of them.
But our dealings with them should always be tempered with the respect due to sentient beings as without their obedience and co-operation the industry they front would have no means of existing. We are their masters, yes; but we are their servants, too.
An issue that pulls my chain with greater frequency than any other is the naming of horses. The ‘Racehorse Names’ page on this website is a clear illustration of my obsession with the subject. Let me be clear, though; it is not that I wish to have every horse from now to eternity given a name unique to itself. I only wish to have the names of horses who have either won important races, not necessarily classics, or horses who have achieved remarkable feats, to have their names placed on a cherished list, to never be used again. It is about respect and memory, which is why I also abhor the use of gobbledegook, words that runs a carriage and four through proper English and names that are either just undignified or plain insulting to such a magnificent animal.
I will take one horse as an example of what I mean. Persian Punch. He was a greatly loved racehorse. It was said that no horse graced flat racing like him, that he reached out and touched the hearts of the public. Yet his name could reappear on race-cards any day soon. He died, amazingly, fifteen years ago and during his long career he did not win one of the races that would have disallowed his name to be re-used for all eternity.
I said I would only use one horse as an example but the same can be said of Brown Jack and many other ‘equine heroes’ of our sport.
I am told it is difficult to name a racehorse. I doubt if this is true. In fact, I reckon if you wrote on playing cards every word in the English dictionary and stacked them face-to-face they would extend the circumference of Chester racecourse. If you added combinations of those words, only eighteen digits allowed, combined with the single words, you could go around Cheltenham’s New course. If you translated the English words into French, Italian, Spanish and all the other suitable languages and made up words using the twenty-six letters of the English language, you might fill both courses at Cheltenham and possibly the cross-country course as well. The possible names are literally without end. There should be no need to give a young horse the same name as a Lincoln winner, Ascot Stakes winner, Hennessey winner or any horse that during its career won the hearts of the race-going public.
It is about respect in life and in death. And very often, it should be remembered, as with Persian Punch, horses give up their lives in pursuit of our entertainment. To my mind, and I realise this is equally if not more controversial, use of the whip should be restricted to a bare minimum, with hand and heel races phased in for professional jockeys, not only to placate members of the public made uneasy by the striking of horses but also as a mark of respect to the horses who think nothing of always giving 100%.
This sport will only survive long into the future if the public believe that the human element of horse racing has respect for the horse as its core value. Every avenue should be pursued to this aim, including, I propose, a B.H.B. approved and funded facility for the euthanasia of horses. Respect should start at birth and not necessarily end with death.
Call me sentimental, if you wish. But racehorses are not the stock of farms. They are not bred for slaughter, for meat. Racehorses co-exist alongside the human, the lucky ones for the entirety of their lives. We put some horses on pedestals. Red Rum, Desert Orchid, Frankel to name but three. We construct statues in their likeness. We adorn races with their names. When asked to name the 2017 Derby winner we do not name the jockey or the trainer but the horse, Wings of Eagles. The horse comes first and that principle should apply in all instances, to every horse. The public should never doubt where lies the heart of the racing man and woman.