THE ANTE-HUMAN GREEN PARTY, WHIP DROPPING & THE IRISH JOCKEY CHAMPIONSIP.

The Green Party M.P. Adrian Ramsay, as reproted by Jonathan Harding in the Friday column of The Racing Post, has retweeted his only contribution during the Westminster debate on 'The Future of British Horseracing' where he described racehorses as 'expendable assets' and which 'many of them injured on the track could have been saved but were euthanised for financial reasons'. Although there may be cases when his comment has some validity - as in any walk of life, even amongst politicians, there must be despicable human beings within the racing family - on the whole he could not be further from the truth. 

Only in today's Racing Post there is a report on the retirement of Tim Easterby's grand old stayer Art Power. He will spend his retirement at Owenstown Stud in Kildare, the very place where he came into this world. In the main horses are euthanised as a last resort and the majority of owners will spend many thousands of pounds to save the life of a horse, even if the outcome is that the horse will no longer be fit to race again.

The Green Party is largely ante-human and under its present leadership represents a danger to ordinary life far more sinister than anything Kier Starmer had planned. I would ask readers of this bloggy-thing to contact Mr.Ramsay to put him right about this subject, perhaps including instances of retired racehorses living out either an active life since leaving racing or simply a happy life of leisure. Our best defence against unfair attack is measured, polite, retaliation. Prejudiced and ignorant politicians like Mr. Ramsay should not be allowed the final word.

To return to one of my hobby-horses. In the Racing Post analysis of the 6.18 at Tramore yesterday an opinion was recorded as fact - 'would have gone even closer had not rider not dropped his whip going to the last'. The horse, Pinkarizon, for information purposes was 300/1 in the betting. The analyst cannot know if he is correct. If the jockey had not lost his whip, he might have used the whip and the horse might have curled-up, his tail spinning windmill fashion. It might easily be said that the horse ran more genuinely because he was not hit with the whip. This ingrained belief that the whip makes a horse go faster has to be challenged. The whip gives an arsenal of litigation for people like Adrian Ramsay to win favour with society, those who, aparently, hold the social licence that allows our sport to survive. Monty Roberts, who died recently, was against the use of the whip, believing it was stupid to think a flight animal would run faster if struck with a whip.

With the exception of the larger number of winners, the Irish Jockey Championship mirrors the British version, with three jockeys in a battle for the title. In Britain, of course, Rossa Ryan's bid for the title has been scuppered by the stewards, though if either Loughnane or Murphy, God forbid, should suffer injury or suspension, he could yet get himself back in the game.

In Ireland Billy Lee leads with 63-winners, from Colin Keane on 59 and Dylan Browne McMonagle on 53. The next in the table is Joey Sheridan on 37. A quick look at the table makes it obvious why so many Irish jockeys cross the Irish Sea to ply their trade here. Wayne Lordan is one of the most successful jockeys in both countries where Group and classic races are concerned, yet in his homeland he has only ridden 20-winners. Seamie Heffernan has only ridden 8-winners from 171-rides. It makes one wonder how many jockeys in Ireland make a healthy living at the sport? Not many, I suspect.