NEARING MELTDOWN

Even those of us who are adamant that any single month of the 1970's offered more in music quality than any whole single year thereafter, may not have felt inclined to listen yet to Bowie's Blackstar album, released just days before the superstar's death

His passing was reported on the televised news with clips of a video from Lazarus, a gloomy track from the album showing the singer lying in bed with bandages covering his face. The underlying message was a foreboding one and given the state that the UK racing industry finds itself in at the moment, it would be fitting for the sport to be broadcast in black and white to augment the somber overtone, with the presenters    voice levels and vocabulary befitting the dread felt both by those employed from within, and those contributing or supportive from the outside.

As the weeks pass, the genuine tales of woe increase. Many wonder how they can survive in the industry for much longer, some have already packed their bags and left, trainers and owners included. Courses are in trouble too; something that really hits home when you learn what is happening at Goodwood, a venue which you would class as one of the untouchables.

It's a curious saga involving an appeal for help from the Duke of Richmond, the owner of the Goodwood estate. He has asked annual members of his picturesque racecourse to consider gifting the annual fee they have paid for 2020 to assist in the finanancial well being of the the business. In return, kind members will be honoured by having their name imprinted on a new walkway being built. 

I've no idea how much of the Duke's reputed 225 million fortune is tied up in fixtures on the estate but you'd have to think there is enough movable, untied money to make the total collective amount of all annual members consenting to wavering the money paid for their 2020 badges, merely the equivalent of spare change from his back pocket. 

No previous like for like example comes to mind in this sport of a similar 'appeal'. On the audacity front, there was the Grand National Appeal Fund set up by Lord Vestey in the early 1980's in an attempt to save what was still then a truly magnificent event. The 7 million needed then was indeed spare change from the amount the Vestey family had avoided parting with through a tax loophole. 

This also brings to light an ironic situation whereby in asking the most committed paying patrons to help ease a financial shortfall, they are playing a part in attracting runners carrying the colours of some owners who will be wealthy tax exiles. 

As for names inscribed on a walkway - that is a really odd notion and even those who may be persuaded to forego the return of the money they parted with may be inclined to request their name is left off  'Mugs Walkway'. Firstly, commemorative objects surely should be sparingly put in place and only when it has been agreed upon that the subject or subjects are worthy of having their name honoured as opposed to being part of a trashy scheme used as an incentive to make the racecourse a quick buck. 

Secondly, are the names going to remain permanently?  For the few, or who knows maybe the many, who fancy going along with this daft project may eventually come to view their involvement akin to an unwanted tattoo bearing the name of a one hit wonder singer such as Harpo.

And returning to the broadcasting of racing, the fact that SKY have terminated the employment of three of it's football pundits whose positions seemed as safe as houses, could be an indicator that similar cutbacks could be applied amongst the bloated TV racing teams as by comparison football will get back on its feet much quicker and be much nearer to its norm than UK horse racing, which could well be in bits and indeed may never be the same again. 

Mind you, one would expect that many of the ITV racing team in particular, have less reliance on their income from their roles which would be considerably less than the SKY footy pundits were being paid. It certainly would be safe to assume that over half of the team see the income as a top up to what they earn in roles away from the camera.

There are numerous intertwined issues across the board in UK and Irish racing too, all coming to surface and being far more threatening than if the sport had gone down an alternative pathway in securing it's long term funding half a century back.

If the clock could be turned back to the 1960's, the old portheads would have been replaced by smarter people and we'd have put an Australian style system in place, with off course betting monopolised by the Tote. But they were outwitted by representatives of the bookmaking industry who continue to have influence over the way the sport is reported, with sponsorships, along with adverts in the specialist racing publications, being the lifeblood of continued existence for many.

It's been long lamented in many quarters that the wrong direction was taken but never before will the full, damaging consequences be apparent as they will be soon, when everyone realises just how deep in the mire the sport is.

It can be likened to a bomb with a timer set to go off over five decades on, with the sport initially carrying on blissfully unaware, assured that lower prize money was offset by the established tradition of our programme.

That the whole show would one day implode could not have been contemplated the week when Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars album was released in the first week of June in 1972. Roberto won the Derby and Alice Cooper released his signature School's Out album all within the same seven day period, all just three weeks after the Stones had released their celebrated Exile On Main Street album. 

Image from Wikipedia