THE POWERS-THAT-BE MAYBE MISSING A TRICK.

​In the era of racing that I have the habit of referring to as ‘the golden age’ the sport was well-endowed with owner/breeders, people with large estates and pedigrees, equine and human, going back, in some cases, centuries. I would like to think, and my belief is only evidenced by what I read in racing books of yesteryear with references of famous old horses living out his or her life at the place of their birth, that such rewards for outstanding service was the norm and not an irregular occurrence. I remain naïve in my old age, wishing every equine stalwart of the sport to be cared-for long after their final race.
In our era there are far fewer of this class of owner, with the majority of horses owned by syndicates or wealthy men and women with no solid connection to horses other than the honour of owning them. This in itself is not a problem, except that the non-breeding owner, as a rule, does not have the luxury of being able to give a retirement home to their old horses, with that responsibility falling, I suspect, to the trainer.
I am not suggesting that in any way this represents a problem in need of a solution. It may not be a problem. I hope not, anyway. Yet in a society that leans ever more heavily on the leisure industry, horse racing may be missing a trick by not having a centre where the retired heroes of the racecourse can be seen by the public.
At the Irish National Stud, the public can see in retirement Moscow Flyer, Beef or Salmon, Hardy Eustace, Hurricane Fly, Kicking King and Rite of Passage. I also believe Vintage Crop and Danoli are either there or were there. The Irish National Stud also has a stunning Japanese Garden that attracts non-racing people by the thousands every year. There is also a racing museum that houses the skeleton of Arkle, something that I wish was in the ground and not in a cabinet to be gawked at. The image of his body being so coarsely interred with I find distasteful. He is and was Arkle, after all.
The Irish National Stud is the model that I believe should be copied by British racing. A centre for retired heroes of the turf, ‘living legends’ as they are referred to in Ireland, where the public can come and see them at rest and play rather than straining every sinew on the racecourse, and an attraction that will bring the non-racing public to rub shoulders with those whose primary concern of the day is to see legendary horses. Such an environment would be the perfect setting to educate the public on what horse racing achieves and what it offers. I say this far too often, perhaps, and my defence is that because I live outside of racing I integrate with people either ignorant of racing or with a perception that is based on the lies of Animal Aid and other similar organisations, but racing is seen by many as being a sport that uses horses for its own entertainment, a sport without pity, with the whip used as a punishment by jockeys with no other thought than winning, in an industry built around the addiction of gambling. It is an image that is a million miles wide of the truth.
The likes of Sprinter Sacre and Cue Card will always be cared-for in their retirement years but what an attraction they would be if horses of their esteem, and others, Big Orange comes to mind, if they spent their summers at such a centre. Some horses could live there all the year round, of course, with the ‘stars’ coming for a change of scenery, to greet again their adoring public. It is also important, I believe, for people to realise that horses age, as we do, and any medical issues they contract are addressed.
How much would such an establishment cost to buy and run? Who knows. But if racing can lavish prize money of six and seven figure on a selection of races each year, surely, given the good publicity such an attraction must bring to the sport, any amount of money would be well-spent.
To clarify: I am suggesting a national retirement park for racehorses, a museum of racing and a garden on the lines of the Japanese Garden that wows visitors to the Irish National Stud, open to the paying public. Where it should be situated is another question that is not easily answered. My first reaction is not Newmarket as for most of the country it is too far away. Somewhere in the Midlands, perhaps. Though location would be dealt with by opportunity to purchase the right property at the right price. But location, price and opportunity are the semantics of the idea. What is required is for the powers-that-be to grasp the nettle and put the idea into motion, no doubt to form a committee and to seek expert advice. And, of course, we need the people lucky enough to own the ‘living legends’ to allow them to spend their summers in the glare of public adoration for the benefit of the sport.