A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL

The 'Rooney Rule'  has been the subject of topical discussions over the past few weeks. Named after an NFL owner, the 'Rooney Rule' requires that a quota of applicants from ethnic minority backgrounds are interviewed for certain positions within that particular sport. 

Detractors claim it results in many of these candidates being pure 'token' ones who are, knowingly or not, assisting in a box-ticking exercise though supporters of the rule and variations of it can cite a notable increase in the number of NFL coaches stateside from an ethnic minority background.

The chief reason it has resurfaced in the UK stems from that Patrick Vierra statement regarding Arsenal's public interest in him for the vacant manager's position as being, in his words, 'token'. It's left open to interpretation but it is hard not to be drawn to the obvious conclusion as to what he was inferring.

Whatever an individual's regard for Arsenal FC, no one can deny that they can be considered along with other major football clubs of long standing, an international institution and one which has to consider its business model in every action and statement it makes.

In short, in order to look after this business model in all corners of the world, being inclusive is not enough, they need to be seen to be inclusive in what is a very delicate PC environment where you tread on hot coals.

Surely, as with players, if a manager or prospective manager is considered suitable enough then his race will be no bar to his prospects of being offered the position. The name Frank Rijkaard is proof in the pudding that in all of the modern, stable nations, skin colour will be no barrier to progression for management positions at the highest level.

What's this got to do with racing? Well, it's a topical issue in light of Sean Levy's recent classic success. In what is a colour blind sport, there has been an unjustified level of discussion about the perceived lack of coloured faces in racing.

Sadly, it may only be a matter of time before racing to has its own 'Rooney Rule'

Last September the BHA set up a Diversity in Racing Steering Group (DirSG) containing sixteen members from the racing industry. One of the considerations of the group was to look at bringing in policies that have been adopted in other sports which are claimed to have  ' led to real improvement in diversity and inclusivity metrics.'

It would be appalling if racing had to go down this path of making statements that don't have a clear meaning but give a general gist that there exists institutionalised racism within the sport.

Anyone with common sense knows that any talented kid, good hands and all that stuff, with a hunger for success and reliable in character, will get a chance if he looks after himself.

The UK's present champion jockey is Brazilian and in racial terms one who many would class as being from an ethnic minority background. The ranks of stable staff, not least amongst the big yards that pay the best wages, have a global representation amongst their workforce, many Asian and Black.

As long ago as the 1970's we had the Guyanese born Compton Rodrigues among the jockey ranks. It was two decades later when Royston Ffrench appeared. He made a considerable impression as a stylish apprentice, adopting that streamlined posture that apprentices were now preferring over the Pat Eddery style.

Ffrench was the most sought after claimer during a terrific 1997 season and promised to go to the top ranks. But like all dynamic apprentices, it gets tougher once the claim goes. Still, unlike many others, Ffrench established himself successfully in the jockey ranks, partnering winners of some of the major handicaps and winning Group One events in mainland Europe.

Whatever, there is no evidence that his heritage has had any impact, positive or negative on his career. The only reason you would raise his skin colour would be describing him to someone asking who he was, who was new to the sport.

This is a sport where the jockey ranks stateside are an array of most of the races on the globe. And in Europe, Germany has the dark skinned Panamanian Eduardo Pedroza ( in picture) still going strong in its jockey ranks over there. He won a Group 3 race earlier this month.

Surprisingly, the UK has always lacked oriental representations amongst the jockey ranks. Perhaps even more surprising when this race had more than its fair share of persons small in stature.

There was Neil Pollard who has part Chinese ancestry.  A real stylish apprentice, another with a low seat, he was trusted with the job of David Elsworth's stable jockey on losing his claim but things did not work out. One or two owners lost faith in him, others followed, rides were lost and the confidence evaporated.

Another point to touch upon with budding riders is that while you have some successful flat jockeys who have not sat upon a horse until leaving school, nearly all national hunt riders have been involved at an early age, most jumping poles on ponies. And the image of pony clubs is a white one, accurate or not.

Still, I can think of two mixed-race riders who competed in and won races in the national hunt sphere, Josh Apiafi, one of the DirSG members, and Marvin Mello.

Mind you, the wider subject of inclusivity can throw up some potentially amusing scenarios. When these theme days began to expand, Brighton held a 'Gay Day' and encouraged attendees to 'get into the spirit of things'.

A Racing Post journalist mused over whether John Gosden would turn up dressed as Boy George, or Michael Stoute as one of the Village People. Unfortunately, the way all this overprotective nonsense has escalated in very recent times, I doubt such comments would now be published, even allowing for the fact that they were made in levity. That is a shame.

From past experiences or misconceived but long rooted beliefs, all of us will not view all religions, nationalities, races, and various identities and leanings, with equal consideration. But thankfully, at the end of the day, the PC brigade have not found a way of forcing individuals to think as their doctrine would prescribe. 

Horse racing has no racist stigma attached to it. If a  'Rooney Rule' variation was applied, those who pour scorn on the sport, whether for political reasons, ie 'class war' and all that, or animal welfare issues, would then have the option of another angle of attack.

The sport has more pressing matters concerning its immediate future to deal with and should not be making an issue of what is a non-issue.

Image by author

GOOD RIDDANCE !

Most of us just don't get the appeal of FOBTS. Just like when we see those videos taken in public places in broad daylight of those characters standing stone still holding an unnatural gait debilitated by the drug Spice, we cannot spot anything that remotely tempts us into joining them.

It a makes a mockery of the arguments put forward by some downright liars that most FOBTS players enjoy this pastime and play the machines responsibly. All sorts of figures have been given airtime to throw in their two bob's worth over the past few days.

On one news item, they interviewed someone called Christopher Snowdon, who is the ' Head of Lifestyle Economics' at the Institute of Economic Affairs. With a rather smug persona, reminiscent of a member of the Howards Way cast, he casually remarked that playing the FOBTS did not differ from other forms of gambling.

Let's consider it comparatively with racing.

You go the races, you return light in pocket. As you recount how that one missed the break, how another was cruising on the snaff with nowhere to go, how you had narrowed the wide open handicap down to three, spit stakes on two of them and deserted the one that eventually won. How different it could have been if you had the rub of the green.

Then you'll probably add that apart from nothing going right on the punting front it was a decent day. You may even wonder whether you have seen a future star in that one that won the two year old maiden.

What do FOBTS players do when they return home? How do they recount and assess their day? Did they learn anything to take forward for their next session? Is there an equivalent for them to a horse racing punter noting a tenderly handled one for the future. In fact, is there any form of enjoyment at all that can be had from these cancerous machines.

We know that in addition to being an LBO's biggest and most assured earner, they provide a fix for people who are so addicted to them that they are bordering on being mentally unwell.

Consider again, you're a punter who has had a bad run on horses, footy, cricket, golf or other sports that are real and not computer simulations.

You take a sabbatical to reassess, take stock and get some funds back together. You may want to get stuck into something in the Ebor ante-post market, or plan to turn the year around on Oosthuizen at Carnoustie. It's aimed, considered and measured.

There is no equivalent on FOBTS, they just get straight back playing and keep on playing. One wonders where they get their supply of money from.

FOBTS have played their part in taking the traditional punters away from LBO 's. What at one time would be a losing slip scrunched up and thrown to the floor in disgust accompanied by, " that Mercer is a bin man ! ", then a stomping exit, does not emit the uneasiness created around the premises by a zombie continually sat at the machine for hours on end, gradually starting to show outward signs of agitation but concealing the furore of the volcano building up inside, with the unpredictability as to what may come next.

I've been inside an LBO less than ten times in the past five years. But I've witnessed someone freaking out on a FOBT and have been asked by a  manager whether I'd like a free spin voucher. Only doing what his superiors have ordered him to do but it's enough to make you not really care if he does lose his job when the changes finally take effect, which is not soon enough.

Hard to believe it now, but there was a time when many standing in an LBO would have their own copy of the Sporting Chronicle or Sporting Life - and it was not completely rare to spot someone with a Timeform Black Book or the bright red coloured Raceform Note Book.

And before racing started it was an everyday sight to see a punter carefully take the drawing pins out of the front page of the LBO's Sporting Life, turn it inside out, and note down the Dick Whitford ratings, then pin the page back as it was.

Many of those have either passed on, lost their enthusiasm or like many, conduct their betting via online accounts. These establishments are completely unrecognisable than those of thirty or forty years ago. They may be cleaner, smell nicer, but they can be very intimidating. If horse racing suddenly ceased to exist you would barely notice the difference from its final day to the first day without.

It was absolutely shocking on the televised ATR forum two weekends back when  David Williams was not challenged when he spouted some falsehood about FOBTS being a precursor to betting on the horses in the sense that all these zombies who step inside to play the FOBTS will eventually graduate to betting on horse racing. 

We know it's the other way round, that those with the finger in the high street bookmaking pie would dearly love the regular horse punters to migrate over to the machines hence the free vouchers from characters that Robert Helpmann would portray well.

Finally, despite all the warning shots fired by the bookmaking fraternity, and the noises made by some inside horseracing proper who convey the impression that the lives ruined by FOBTS are acceptable wastage for the greater good of racing, it's coming to an end on the scale we know it.

This means that all those who shamefully towed the line so as not to bite the hand that feeds, such as that infamous Alastair Down piece in the Racing Post where he played the FOBTS in an LBO, would look silly doing a U-turn and supporting the new legislation.

Just like all those MP's who supported the invasion of Iraq but now pretend they were against it all along, they have to either stand with their original published thoughts or be principled, hold their hands up and concede they were all along put under pressure by their employers deceive their audience.

If jobs go in LBO's then its not a great loss in the sense that the demands of working in such an environment will make these workers employable in other areas dealing with the public where they will most likely be better rewarded and work in a safer environment.

As for a shortfall in levy which further down the line may cause racecourses to shut, a reduction in prize money in the middle to lower tiers, and trainers to go out of business -  there is too much bland fare that is impossible to keep tabs on and makes the overall sport less appealing than it was years ago which has been one of the main reasons why the sport's share of the betting pie has been dwindling.

A culling of the fixture list would be fantastic news, racecourse closures less so. If trainers are forced out of business; well no one has a right to make a living out of a hobby. Many are barely keeping their heads above the sand anyway.

To be involved as outright owners or trainers, you need deep pockets and it is still very much the Sport Of Kings in that sense. We can at least come along and enjoy it, and can buy a ticket in where the outcome of a race has a bearing on our direct finances.

We can even turn it into a situation where say, for instance, the progress of Clive Cox's 2018 juveniles, or Nicky Richard's 2018/19 season novice chasers has a bearing on our standard of life. Something like that makes us feel very much a part of it all.

image by EdwardX attribution  creative commons

A WASTED OPPORTUNITY

We often fail to forget that today's bank holiday was very much a Scottish affair, not being observed by the rest of the UK until 1978. The way in which this day was first utilised by the UK racing authorities, then allowed to decline, is something to consider when dwelling upon where the hell it all went wrong with the running of the sport.

There are some sports, Golf along with its impressively packaged and managed showcase PGA Tour for example, that when making comparisons with the past, taking all angles into account, you are left feeling that it's in better health than it's ever been.

The same cannot be said of horse racing in the UK.

May Day 1975, is a good starting point to consider the impact of May Day Monday in racing. Two days earlier, Pat Eddery had suffered a reversal when the apple of his eye, Grundy, had been beaten in the 2,000 Guineas by Bolkonski, with Gianfranco Dettori aboard. That had been the day when stable staff strike action famously reached it's highpoint, with Newmarket racetrack under siege.

Eddery was at Wolverhampton on the Monday where he guided the Gordon Smyth trained March Crusader home in the Midlands Spring Handicap. The only other fixture was Edinburgh, where Kevin Leason rode the winner of the feature race, Daveti from the Tommy Craig yard. Nothing unusual about the day except there would have been a larger than normal crowd at the Scottish venue to mark the Bank Holiday.

When the holiday went nationwide racing grabbed the opportunity the day presented to advertise what it had to offer with Haydock Park taking the grand initiative of introducing the Royal Doulton Hurdle in 1978, a race that was initially a spectacular success.

The following year, like today, May Day fell on Monday May 7th. The second running of the Royal Doulton saw Beacon Light, in the Jim Joel colours defeat the legendary Monksfield.

Kempton, Doncaster and Wolverhampton also had fixtures. The feature race at Kempton was the Jubilee Stakes Handicap, with a prize of over £11,800 to the winner, more than the winner of the Lincoln had received a few weeks earlier.

The Jubilee pulled in the quality turn out it deserved, with the race eventually being won by the John Winter trained Smartset, with the promising apprentice Philip Robinson aboard. The highly popular Baronet followed him home with the 1977 Dewhurst runner up Camden Town, who started favourite, in third with 9st 11 lb on his back. The top weight incidentally was the unplaced Crimson Beau, who would later give Troy a race in the  Benson and Hedges Gold Cup.

The feature race of the day at Doncaster was the Irish Sweeps Spring Handicap, also carrying more prize money than the Lincoln. That was won by the Brian Taylor ridden Harry Wragg trained Fluellen in the Oppenheimer colours.

So what did we have on May Day 2018? If anything, it typified how the sport has gone down the wrong track. Six mainland UK fixtures and all decidedly ordinary. The most valuable race being the 'Matchbook VIP Handicap Chase' with a first prize of £14,388, and a mildly interesting field, but evidence that the day in racing terms has taken a lamentable drop in importance in recent times.

This is brought home when you consider that the most valuable flat race in the UK on the day is a one mile handicap at Windsor with a first prize of £7,439, roughly a third less than that for the two feature flat races 39 years ago!  And that's not event putting into the equation the prize money available for the Royal Doulton.

To look at it another way, this years Lincoln carried first place prize money of over £62,000. So while in 1979 we had two flat handicaps on this day with a bigger monetary value than the celebrated Doncaster race, the 'feature'  flat race in the UK today has a value eight times less than that of the 2018 Lincoln.

What is so baffling about it all is that today would be a free shop window for the sport if it played its card right. Admittedly, there is competition from family commitments and the weather, but that is something that applies to every 'free' day.

We have smaller tracks putting on some pretty dreadful fare but chuffed at being able pull in some impressive crowds when the sun is shining. This is not necessarily to the sport's long term benefit, as it's lifeblood is money generated from people betting on it, not from purchasing overpriced beer and everyday Greggs quality food with a fancy name added.

Hopefully, the FOBTS maximum stakes will be cut to £2. If this results in reduced revenue for the sport then so be it. It will have to adjust, return to roots with a sensible fixture list with emphasis on quality and making the most of the days that it has the house to itself. Like today.

There was no competition today from what is, rightly or wrongly, the God that is Premiership Football. And likewise none from the now mini God that is Grand Prix qualifying, something that those who pull the strings in horse racing acknowledge as a 'rival' that they lose out in direct confrontations with.

The Saturday obsession shows that horse racing is picking a fight it cannot win. Long gone are the times when racing could take for granted television coverage free from the competition of rival sports as well as thriving in house daily newspapers.

Lost in a vibrant mix of sports that previously were not fortunate enough to enjoy the exposure they are now granted, we have a sport that is not widely acknowledged to be in the very top tier as it once was and a sport that cannot compete with the others on a level playing field.

And on a day like today it looks a gift horse in the mouth.

Image licensed under creative commons attribution - author Ralph Jenson