SOMETHING IS MISSING AT THE RACING POST.

​In a recent e-mail to the editor of the Racing Post – he will not reply; he never replies, at least to me, and on the one occasion I was so honoured he had an underling ‘do the necessary’ on his behalf – I mentioned in passing that aside from the bloodstock pages all his columnists have one (or possible two) things in common. Of course I am referring to testicles. A situation that if it came to the notice of new suffragette movement that is currently sweeping all before it might bite the ‘sexist’ editor on the backside.
In our ever maddeningly equality conscious world, where the ‘best fit for the job’ might soon legally become secondary to ethnic, cultural or gender variety, the lack of a female columnist could lead to the Racing Post being had up before the Equal Opportunities Board. Questions might be asked in the House.
Some might claim that if the Post had a correspondent with a name like Aziz or Trehvon the sport would gain a greater following amongst British Asians and those of Caribbean descent. But that would be the folly of dreamers. The Post is an industry paper. The people who read it must have direct need for the paper. Also they must be able to afford the paper. Remember, Cheltenham will soon be upon us and as sure as Easter follows Christmas the cover price of the Post will rise by 10p.
If Aziz and Trehvon wrote for a tabloid newspaper then perhaps an upswell of cultural minority interest would occur. But the Racing Post is no ordinary commonplace newspaper; it is an industry paper and the editor has a duty to employ as its mouthpiece the best racing writers that can be afforded and without exception the current band of columnists are all outstandingly good.
Having a tight band of ‘outstandingly good’ columnists, though, does not justify the lack of a single female viewpoint. It is a criticism, I must admit, that could legitimately be levelled at all sectors of racing publication. Certainly all of the racing books in my collection are written by men. Yet I.T.V. and the Racing Channels employ any number of women and Clair Balding is still considered the doyen of racing presenters. Perhaps those women presently in front of the cameras can talk but not express themselves to the same extent in words. I don’t know and would hope to find out. Perhaps behind the scenes the Racing Post is nurturing female members of staff, in wait of the day when the contracts of its older columnists run out.
It is easy to trivialise this issue. In fact some may think it a non-issue. But I believe it is an oversight that needs to be speedily corrected as the Post could be accused of double standards. Along with every right-minded follower of the sport, the Racing Post is championing the emergence of Bryony Frost amongst the jockey ranks as ‘a breath of fresh air’. What stands her apart from her male colleagues is the ease in which she speaks of the horses she rides. There was not a shade of embarrassment in her when she referred to Black Corton as ‘Blackie’, talking about him as a trusted friend, as if he might simply be her childhood pony. Can you imagine Sam Twiston-Davies referring to Black Corton as ‘Blackie’?
Yet a similar ‘breath of fresh air’ is not to be found in the pages of the Racing Post. Which is bad form as one would imagine the readership of the paper is about equal amongst the sexes, yet the ratio of its scribblers is wildly swayed in favour of those who generally stand to do wee-wees.
I am currently ‘off games’ with this dreadful viral infection and for the past couple of days I have been unable to get hold of the Post and feel greatly worsened by its absence from my life. I suspect Mr.Millington – I have it in mind that he is a delicate hot-house flower easily bruised when touched by a cold hand – will confuse my observation for criticism. I hope not. Apart from wanting the cover price of the paper to go down, nothing would please me more than for the paper under his leadership to go from strength to strength. Letting a lady in the door can only help serve that cause.