If you were compiling an English language module and needed examples to define the meaning of the expression, ' knowing what side your bread is buttered on ', then you would be spoilt for choice by concentrating on the British horse racing industry.
For every single debate aired on the subject of the financial crisis hitting the sport this year has contained a critical missing link. It's obvious to racing fans, maybe not so to casual viewers - it is of course the fact that UK racing, along with Irish racing, do not have the safety net of an off course pari mutuel monopoly.
No one employed in the media wing of the industry will touch on the subject, they know the buttered side is much preferable and would risk being metaphorically launched out of the window of racing's house if they raised subject that is very relevant to the crisis.
Bookmakers sponsor racing professionals, employ them in certain capacities, are the lifeblood of some racing publications through the advertising revenue, and have influence over racing television broadcasts. Some say racing needs Barry Hearn - well he too would not dare raise this taboo subject for his entrepreneurship in other sports has been helped by him initiating sponsorship deals with major bookmakers which is fine for sports that are neither intertwined with gambling and don't need mass numbers to place bets on it for survival, but not for racing.
Racing is unique in that it is a sport that could not continue without gambling. The major venues and cult courses could last for an indefinite amount of time on summer crowds who drink and spend without too much interest in the fare on show, but what happens when other forms of festival entertainment in parks nearby prove the new flavor of the day, with a day at the races being seen as something to move on along from and on to something more in vogue. Some day this will happen - though by the time a more measured and proportional approach to the plague is put into motion, the choice of racing venues may have shrunk.
A rather stressed looking Martin Cruddace of Arena Racing was interviewed at Doncaster about the dilemma. He expressed gratitude to the bookmarking industry, without which he reminded us, there would be no contributions through the levy to the prize money coffers. Well, though he will realise more than most how well better off the sport would have been with an off course pari mutuel monopoly he too would not choose butterless bread or Stork, as his corporation's showcase days have major bookmaker sponsorship.
What gets one tickled about all this is that trainers, owners and jockeys undertook strike action over what they saw as appallingly low levels of prize money at the Arena venues long before Covid 19 had been heard of. And it is worth considering that as the world is still officially suffering from this plague, horse racing in Australia, North America and France have healthier prize money levels right now than UK did in the pre- Covid 19 era.
Many in racing could be upping sticks and scarpering. The most powerful and influential people in the sport could carry on business as usual in the States and Australasia, so strong are their established and continual developing interests are in those parts of the globe. While in Europe, France would be the focal point for the sport.
In fact France is the safest long term location to represent the sport in Europe. It's demonstrating how it can continue to sustain prize money at respectable levels which should of course be expected as apart from just a handful of days each year, their racecourses are empty. The UK would be in the same position if off course bookmakers had not been legalised here over fifty years back - but no one with a voice in the sport is allowed to say this.
It would be fitting for France to be the main representative of the sport in Europe. It is the country that draws in the highest number of tourists on the whole globe, being the citadel for cultural class and quality from Monaco to the Alps. It blows Spain out of the water who only makes it to number two on the world tourist list because it pulls in every dimwit who thinks it's classy to lie on a crowded beach in baking sun all day long.
So imagining a world where Australia and America are the leaders in horse racing, with France being the only country in Europe where the sport is run on a large scale professional basis, racing fans here might even choose to concentrate on the sport's rich, in depth history, rather than continuing to follow it in real time.
Seeing there are people who concentrate the main part of their lives in becoming authorities on subjects such as The Great Exhibition, The Six Day War, or Pre- Raphaelite art, then there is enough subject matter in horse racing to spend many, many lifetimes to become immersed in.
Downsizing will happen first - then it will be a case of whether it can survive. That is the most realistic outlook and we have to face up to it.
image from Guide du Pari
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