retainers, moore, keane, estrange & BROADWAY BOY.

​Slight digestive disorder kept me from the keyboard yesterday, though I remain close to the edge due to the poor display by the Lionesses last night. Williamson and Russo can hold their heads high, though the rest of the team disappointed. While on the subject, the disallowed goal? The graphic showing the last line of defence – could you see Mead behind the French defender? How about a player can only be off-side in the penalty area? Or if we done away with off-side, we could do away with VAR.

Back on topic. I am not a fan of owners retaining a jockey. I much prefer a jockey retained by a trainer. Horse racing is a highly professional sport that is upheld and helpfully financed by very wealthy owners who in the main have no experience in either the management of a stable or how to ride a horse in a race. Trainers head-up a team that includes the jockeys who ride work on a regular basis for him or her and who ride the majority of the horses when they run. That team can only be fragmented when owner A has a retainer on a jockey outside of the team-players for any one stable, while owner B also retains his own jockey but may require him for a horse trained by another trainer.
I dare say the system that has evolved where wealthy owners retain their own jockey works for them but it must make the whole business complex when the trainer has to deal with several different racing managers who without being explicit would rather like the trainer to dance to the tune of their employer. Of course, if I had my wish and jockeys could only be retained by a trainer that would not have stopped Godolphin from insisting William Buick rode Ombudsman in the Eclipse on Saturday rather than Ruling Court, even if John Gosden employed a retained jockey. I just find it unsatisfactory when a top jockey is parachuted in for a ride that has been up to that point been the ride of someone else and who has done nothing to deserve losing the ride. I am probably wrong in this opinion, a sign of my old-fashioned approach to the sport, perhaps.

I am not sure if Ryan Moore is retained by Ballydoyle or by the lads of Coolmore. One thing is unquestionable – he is worth every single penny of that retainer. It is the mark of esteem he is held in by the Coolmore lads and Aidan O’Brien when the trainer makes the comment ‘I thought he would press on but you don’t obviously tell Ryan what to do.’ Ryan Moore could ride as he liked in the Eclipse and that included choosing to discard plans a, b and c for the simple reason that his job was not on the line if for whatever reason his chosen plan did not reap the reward of victory. Aidan O’Brien and everyone at Ballydoyle has his back and, of course, when Ryan’s decisions do not pay-off, which must happen occasionally, the team acquire knowledge, those data points that tell them what should not be done next time the horse runs. Delacroix won the Eclipse yesterday simply because Ryan was 100% confident in both his decision-making and his position as first jockey at Ballydoyle. It is a lesson many owners and trainers might want to learn.

Colin Keane expects to receive a 14-day ban this Tuesday for going two over the whip limit on Windlord at Sandown on Friday. He has held up his hands and taken full responsibility for a lapse that will most likely prevent him from riding Field of Gold at Goodwood in the Sussex Stakes. He should though be listened to when he said that it would make life easier for jockeys coming from Ireland if the whip rules in Britain and Ireland were harmonised. The ban will also take effect in Ireland, obviously, and the trainers and owners who Keane rides for will also be affected. So, is it not in Ireland’s interests to harmonise their whip rules to make life easier for their jockeys when they come over to Britain to ride?
I also take the opportunity to emphasise my belief that only in extreme cases should jockeys be banned for whip offences. To my mind they should be allowed to go about their job though without being allowed to use the whip in earnest during a race. Instead of Colin Keane being given a 14-day holiday, he should be allowed to race-ride but not be allowed to pick-up his whip for 14-days.

Estrange an Arc contender? Not for me. Perhaps if the ground were to be soft-to-heavy, perhaps. Otherwise not. That said, I would love David O’Meara and Danny Tudhope to win the Arc. Absolutely love it. I still cherish the memory of Luke Morris and Sir Mark Prescott winning the race. Estrange might not even be good enough to win the Yorkshire Oaks, if that is her next race.

Good to hear that Broadway Boy is slowly recovering from his horror fall at Valentines in the Grand National. Whether he will ever be physically fit, let alone mentally unscared, to race again is yet to be decided. He is though still young enough to return to the racecourse even if he sits out next season, if not I doubt he will be leaving Grange Hill Farm as Nigel Twiston-Davies is real old softie when it comes to the horses that have served him well over the years. I thought at one stage that Broadway Boy was going to be Nigel’s next Gold Cup horse. I might have been wrong about that but until Valentine’s Broadway Boy was looking every inch like an outstanding Grand National horse. It would be a welcome sight to see him back racing.