A WHIPPING UP OF NONSENSE

Some professions are just not viable career paths that you can aspire to become from an advert in a job centre. When considerable financial reserves, the backing of someone very wealthy or, at the very least, being able to convince a bank manager that you are as safe as can be to be the subject of a large loan, are an integral part of the so called career path, then it is not going to be an occupation that 99% of us could realistically plan to succeed at unless the head is full of magic.

One such role that would not rationally be obtainable to assume the form of would be that of a racehorse trainer. The profession is formed either of those inheriting great wealth, have built their pot from being incredibly talented and astute in a different sphere of life, are shrewd stockmen with land available, or who have been talented enough to have made it as a rider in addition to being outwardly bright enough to attract backing from potential owners. 

These basic unwritten laws of reality apply across the board irrespective of ethnicity. Those of us of a certain age will clearly remember the young middle eastern Michael Albina training the 1982 Epsom Derby third Silver Hawk for Mahmoud Fustok from a Newmarket base. The same owner later installed a young Mohamed Moubarak at headquarters later in the same decade, from where they enjoyed notable success a few years later with the high class pair Green Line Express and Magnificent Style.

Admittedly, you get those rare characters who make it against all odds, these stories that have become folklore. We know the yard's worked for and horses backed that helped finance Barry Hills, then a couple of years later Clive Brittain, as they set themselves up in yards to become long term established trainers at the top level.

Michael Jarvis, a son of a jump jockey likewise worked himself up the ranks of stable staff and was given the opportunity of taking on the role of private trainer to David Robinson, then in recent times Charlie Appleby climbed the ladder within the Godolphin set up to earn his chance with his name on the licence after the departure from the scene of the disgraced Mahmoud Al Zarooni. 

But being realistic the odds are long against even the most gifted, hard working stable staff having a succession of cards fall right to end up with a licence while not having deep financial reserves. Yes a few will get there but there are lottery winners too, however unrealistic that desire may also be.

Which makes it all the more baffling that prominent in Rishi Persad's recent criticism of horse racing not moulding to fit diversity agendas, was that while many stable staff are from ethnic backgrounds, the same does not apply to the role of licensed trainers. This opinion appears to have been expressed in a context that could relay the impression that, like with stable staff, would be racehorse trainers can just forward a CV in response to a newspaper advert. The overall message is hardly one that will attract more ethnic minorities to the sport. 

Jumping aboard the diversity praising bandwagon is increasingly becoming a pathway to career promition. It is cheap, on safe ground self promotion, and a niche to carve out a career in itself as opportunists jump on, joining those already aboard who if not in it for their own gains are often blindfolded.

We have come a long way since the days that the Independent Television Authority, with the support of the Race Relations Board, had the plug pulled on a series called Curry and Chips, which starred such illuminaries as Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes. 

Nowadays, small segments, deemed offensive are cut from some of the old programmes. Many are preceded by an announcement that some viewers may be offended by the views expressed. And that is not just the prime suspects such as Love Thy Neighbor or Till Death Do Us Part - they are coming for the unexcelled Fawlty Towers, and will soon be on Reg Varney and Rigsby's cases, so those of us who consider those as part of a wonderful decade with happy memories should snap up the box sets quickly before they are removed and consigned to history - or judging by the way society is going airbrushed from history by the Ministry of Truth

If Persad wished to help the cause of those he feels are left out, then why not get the message across that in racing ethnicity is no barrier to how high up the ladder you can climb if the talent is there. But instead he is conveying a worrying message to those on the outside that skin colour is an issue within the sport and that black or mixed race working class people in the sport are given less opportunities than white working class people, a notion that has no substantial evidence to back if up.

I've no idea the percentage of black or mixed race footballers play in the top two leagues in England, but I would suspect that for the percentage of the population their ethnicity represents, they have a higher rate  of being successful than their fellow white players.

They have succeeded on their raw talent and long ago put to bed any ridiculous suggestions that their ethnic make up would result a downgrade of assessments of their raw ability and harm prospects of a career. The same is true in horse racing - it is totally preposterous to believe that a highly promising apprentice rider, from an ethnic minority background, would lose out to an inferior white rider in opportunities available due to his or her ethnicity. 

The only exception to this would be where perhaps the inferior rider was a relative of the trainer and in such circumstances fellow superior white apprentices would also lose out thus it would not be an issue of racial background.

And on the subject of football, as with those who have crossed into the sport with the finances reaped from being successful players, it is conceivable that sometime soon one of those many black ex professionals could cross to the racing world, pick up experience in a yard or as a permit holder, take his BHA course and obtain a trainer's licence.

If, or more likely when it happens, the new licence holder would most likely wish to be treated and assessed on his abilities at managing and guiding the animals in his care as opposed to being surrounded by some fanfare based on the colour of his skin. 

Problem at the moment is that the negative perceptions being carelessly wrapped in large banners around the sport by the characters such as Persad and the careerist racing diversity champion Apiafi, might as well be a warning to those from ethnic minorities to not bother trying to work within the sport.

That individuals are allowed free reign to sully the industry in the hope that they will be seen as some sort of pioneers in creating what they would claim as a change in attitudes, then take credit for it, is testament to how fragile and malleable the sport has become.

image from pininterest

This reached its highest point in the UK charts during Cheltenham week 1977, when Night Nurse retained his Champion Hurdle crown after taking a walk in the market when the heavens opened, and when Davy Lad triumphed in an incident packed Cheltenham Gold Cup full of ill fortune and tragedy, with the mighty Lanzariote losing his life.