MEET YOUR IDOL

Racing claims that, unlike many sports, jockeys are accessible for the fans, but are they really?

ONE OF THE BEST THINGS OVER CHRISTMAS happened on January 3 at Musselburgh. It was a rare sighting on a racecourse and was not a late view of Santa as he made his way back to the North Pole nor Rudolf having a spin over hurdles for a bit of a lark.

It was a reasonable day at Musselburgh, a track that runs decent races for decent pots, but as the card was held a week after its big Christmas meeting, it was without much of a buzz and had a bit of the “day after the party” feel to it.

It was a good day for the capable Leicestershire-based trainer Laura Morgan who produced Notllongtillmay to win the handicap chase, the victory taking her to 32 wins for the year and just a couple off beating her best-ever seasonal score.

She also fancied hers in the 3m handicap chase, but Radetsky March did not live up to her expectations and finished fourth to winner Massini Man ridden by Ryan Mania.

The jockey was winning his ninth completed ride in succession (he also had two horses pull up and one faller in the sequence), and apparently was on the heels of tenrace winning runs ridden by Phil Tuck in the 1980s and a Johnnie Gilbert in the 1950s.

In a TV post-race interview, quite late scheduled after his winning ride and with a beenie hat pulled down over his ears to keep out the cold wind, Mania had to give excuses as to why he had not been available to talk earlier – viewers naturally assuming that on such a cold grey day the jockey had been hugging the radiator in the weighing room, and had been reluctant to come out of hibernation.

However, he said: “There were some kids down the track, they cheered me as I went down on Massini Man and they cheered me as I came back; I thought I ought to nip out and say thank you. I don’t know who they were.”

Indeed a rare sighting of a jockey on a racecourse away from the confides of the parade ring, the unsaddling areas or the winners’ enclosure.

Mania did not have another ride on the day until the concluding bumper (a ride which sadly brought an end to the winning spree), and he used the time constructively to pop out for a walk to meet and greet.

A simple thing, but that walkabout will have made the day for those youngsters and certainly will have given them something to boast about on their return to school.

OK, the guy was on the ride of his career, and as he was born and brought up in nearby Galashiels, was on home turf. When riding winners it is also easier to be magnanimous, and he knew he was going to get a welcome reception from his enthusiastic local fan club.

But we often say that the participants in the sport, unlike those in, for example, football, are accessible to the race fans; but are they really when they are rushing from parade ring to changing room to car?

They might stop in a hurry to sign an autograph, but unless an effort such as this is made to give a little more, they are not really there for the people, or the kids.

That little bit extra not only means that they will become hero-worshipped by the youngsters, but it can also create a race fan for life.

Jockeys often have hours to waste in the changing room, waiting for sporadic rides that could be book- ending a card. With NH riding plans known the day before, and Flat a full 24 hours in advance, there could be plenty of time to work out which jockeys might be available for a public get together. Some of the BHA’s marketing funds could even pay for a jockey’s time, which might help make travelling for one ride a more profitable day’s work.

Something such as Mania’s initiative should not be a rarity, and while it might not be suitable on a late evening’s racing at Wolverhampton, what about on a family day in the summer? Or on one of the big Saturday cards? Or on a Sunday, if that day’s racing is actually going to given a proper “family day” marketing push.

A “Meet Your Idol” session has clear potential – and if the race cards were given a little white space for autographs, they could also become a keepsake

“Some of the BHA’s marketing funds could even pay for a jockey’s time, which might help make travelling for one ride more profitable

It might be argued that such things are no longer part of the digital world and kids are no longer interested in collecting signatures, but at the 2022 Christmas Treo Eile show jumping event, the programme, which we helped design, had space dedicated on its team pages with an area for autographs.

It ensures that youngsters have an excuse and a reason to approach the jockeys, and time was given in a scheduled period for signing to take place; the jockeys were busy with their pens and chats.

Couldn’t the same be done on the race cards and on a race meeting? It would go some way to make more of the jockeys as personalities, a tactic we are always being told by the marketing teams is vital and so lacking in this sport, while also giving some focus through an afternoon of racing for the whole family. We are forever being told the half hour split between racing is too long for today’s attention span, well let’s make a plan to fill that time!

Why are owners even offered sale company credit?

IT HAS BEEN A DISPIRITING BLOODSTOCK START to the year with a debt called in by Tattersalls that is equivalent to a significant percentage of the GDP of the smallest nation in the world (Tuvalu, found between Hawaii and Australia, which has an annual income of $70 million) after Saleh Al Homaizi (as reported by the Racing Post) defaulted on the payment terms required by the Newmarket sales company for October yearlings purchased on his behalf by bloodstock agent Richard Knight.

It has not been disclosed by Keeneland, Arqana or Goffs what the position is as regards the purchases signed for by Knight at their headline yearling sales; if in the same situation as Tattersalls I am unsure as to why the four have not collaborated. According to France Galop’s website of the five horses bought in France, three are already listed with trainers.

All the sales houses take on a massive amount of risk every time that a bloodstock auction is held. It is obviously up to each individual company, its own accountants and its own lenders, as to the level of credit it wishes to offer to the individuals.

That, we would assume, is generally decided by the credit checks that are made and the working relationships in place, sadly, it seems in this instance what happened in the past has not been a foreteller of the future.

The sale companies’ terms and conditions state they don’t have to pay vendors until they have been paid, but in the usual course of events vendors are paid within a month, and in this instance this has been adhered to despite when, quite frankly, the sums involved are of bankrupting proportions.

Tattersalls is a significantly strong business, and it is assumed can weather this storm, but even it has had to plug this gap and called enough is enoough deciding over the winter that it can no longer facilitate the non-payment of such a vast amount.

Bloodstock auctions exist so that thoroughbred sellers don’t need to get into the quagmire of selling horses on a private basis with the threat of dealing with individuals who are either disreputable, time wasters or equine dreamers.

Bloodstock sales run on confidence and funds being readily available to pay vendors; if auction companies have too many outstanding debts and can’t meet those terms then the house of cards starts to collapse.

Limited – meaning to a realistic and “normal” human SME level not on an industry scale – credit facilities need to be available for those trading and in business; the few trainers (if any still do) who buy on spec, for the pinhookers selling on, maybe an agent who is hunting a punter, but should credit be available to those who are essentially end users?

In theory, there should be no need for an owner to have credit – either they have the money for racehorse ownership or they don’t.

Of course, the sales companies are loathe to turn away spend, particularly at the top end of the market, and obviously the Arqana August Sale, the Orby Sale or Book 1 come around but just once a year, but if an owner’s financial situation is not in place at the required time… vague empty and ultimately unfulfilled promises do not pay vendors nor wages.

An owner tends to knows pre-sale (particularly at the leading sales) if he or she is going to buy, and presumably an approximate budget is essentially pre-allocated. If the required money can’t be moved to an account that is easily accessible and ready to access at purchase, or if a hard and fast guarantee can not be given that the funds are in transit and legitimate, then quite frankly all bids should be off.

If credit is needed, then it should be achieved through a trainer or agent, but at the level given for that individual according to his or her pre-arranged realistic agreement.

We do live in a credit-driven world, and this might be going back in time when credit was not such a feature of life, but with horses now such an expensive commodity, and bloodstock such a global marketplace, as has been realised, a lot of money can be spent fast and hard.

Perhaps if a line was drawn in the sand along these lines with an inter-sale in-house agreement it would be favourable to all.