A SUBJECT TO AVOID FOR THOSE WANTING TO STAY ABOARD THE GRAVY TRAIN

There is no other sport like horse racing where those given a broadcasting platform to give their assessment of situations do so knowing full well what side their bread is buttered on. They are likewise aware of the measures to take to reduce the chance of upsetting those who possess the power to ensure they'll have to make do with using Stork on their toast for the rest of their days.

While one can appreciate that when it comes to interpretation of what will, is, or has happened during a race, there are libelous shackles on that deter comments about, for example, the intentions of a rider during a race where he appeared to find unnecessary trouble, the connection with the said animal drifting in the betting market beforehand, and orders which may have been given to the jockey beforehand by the trainer and owner. 

But when the issue at heart is whether or not the sport is in a good place, and if not why not, then many tiptoe around what is arguably the pivotal issue, namely the domination of the sport by a smaller number of cliques than ever before.

This has never been more apparent than by what occurred on the ITV racing show on Saturday morning. The anchor for the programme, Rishi Pershad, brought up for discussion views expressed by the forthright  in opinion Sir Mark Prescot, when giving a recent interview to the written press.

Prescott was mirroring how many feel from racing professionals to humble fans, when declaring that the power held by the Coolmore empire, with the majority of the best hand picked eggs stacked in Ballydoyle, makes the sport less enthralling as an entertainment spectacle than it once was. 

The more mature followers of the sport will have a true feel for his sentiment. Glancing through the pre-season ante post markets for the 1979 Epsom classics,  Ballydoyle had four listed in the Derby betting with the Tote, the Graustark colt Gregorian (who would never see a racecourse) the shortest at 25/1, the other three all priced up at 33/1;  the unraced Daniel Schwartz owned Secretariat colt Foreign Secretary,  the Tattersall's 1977 yearling sales topper Link, a son of Lyphard, and Robert Sangster's Accomplice, another son of Graustark, who  would make the line up but who's biggest claim to fame was that his rider, the venerable Yves St Martin, finished the final couple of furlongs with a toilet roll streaming from him.

The eventual winner Troy was listed at 25/1 at this time - Dick Hern having what then would look to be a strong pre season presence in the Derby market with the Dewhurst runner up More Light the 12/1 second favourite, and the Queen's Mill Reef colt Milford showing at 50/1 -  three listed pre season at 12's, 25's and 50's, christ, that was considered holding a reasonably strong hand back then!

In the Oaks betting Ballydoyle had two listed, both daughters of Sir Ivor, Godetia and Ivorina priced up at 20/1 and 33/1 respectively. Henry Cecil looked to have what in the day was an exceptionally strong hand with One In A Million heading the market at 16/1, Formulate at 20/1 and Odeon at 25/1. The eventual winner, the Jeremy Tree trained Scintillate, was showing at 33/1.

So, as you think it would be their duty to do so, what did the ITV team make of Prescott's take on things ?The response was predictable  -  the other three on the team ducking the issue, to twist, and part ignore the question, with one even thinking it would be wiser to complimenting Ballydoyle and coming out with the  'success is all due to hard work'  line as though they were speaking of David Evans, Ian Williams or Roger Teal, without the relevant fact that Ballydoyle have Galileo's, 'on tap'.  

In fact, for this season, Horses In Training lists the Ballydoyle team with 112 three year olds, out of which no less than 50 are by Galileo. Compare with the equine team representing that establishment in 1979 - 26 three year olds and lucky enough to have 3 of them sired by Northern Dancer. Son's of the mighty Canadian animal did not come 'on tap', with sensibly sized stallions books being the norm and it's now hard to fathom that the Ballydoyle of then invariably had the biggest quota, even though the numbers  seem laughably small. Three!

Of course hard work is involved, of course they operate under considerable pressure with continued big race successes an expectation rather than a hope; but one can argue that pressures are at least equal further down the ladder to obtain results with a Bungle Inthejungle bought for six grand, chasing owners who have fallen behind paying their training fees, plus the permanent worry that a decrease in orders for the Autumn yearling sales would make make your own rent a struggle to meet.

What was most surprising about the poor, kop out offerings, from those on the programme was that it was Pershad himself who reiterated what Prescott had been stating and reminded the team that was what they had been expected to discuss. This from a presenter who has lately been giving support to his bud Apiafi who last week called for it to be brought to attention that the UK horse racing community did nothing to mark the first anniversary of a an ex criminal, who had previously served a jail sentence, being unlawfully killed by a police officer in the United States, who will likely spend the rest of his days in prison.

The ITV team ended the topic by attempting to make us believe that this year's renewal of the Blue Riband was shaping into an open affair with those with serious chances widely dispersed - well, there are likely to be as many as eight contenders from Ballydoyle doing their usual tactical spread of racing near the front, mid- division and hold up, to ensure they have something to take advantage of the race being run unevenly, though at the end of the day, deep down, most know that the front two in the market will likely fill the first two places. It's almost inevitable, it really is.

image from personal scrapbook 

Even those of those who are not disco music fans cannot surely have failed to being at least a bit smitten by this track that seemed to be playing everywhere during Troy's Summer of 1979.

HARD TO BELIEVE NOW HOW SO ABSORBING THIS SPORT ONCE WAS

For some reason, when many are asked when they first became fans of their favourite sport, they will often single out their earliest memory of it as opposed to when they became truly hooked. 

With racing, the mature fans will commonly single out their oldest Grand National memory as it will be from a time when the event was a truly great race, unlike what it has morphed into now - albeit the most fiercely competitive staying handicap chase in the calendar but far from the test it once presented.

The first horse's name I took aboard was Red Alligator, the second one Highland Wedding. I was also aware that Mill Reef and Brigadier Gerard were famous racehorses at the time they were racing if only because in the days of three TV channels their names popped up regularly on Saturdays. Then, like many, I remember being engrossed watching the 1973 National unfold as Crisp put the field to the sword until heartbreakingly emptying in the closing stages.

However, I would never dare cite any of these years as the moment I became properly captivated by the sport - that was in 1975, with a genuine interest gradually building throughout that year and Star Appeal's Prix de'l Arc de Triomphe victory the moment that cemented things, in the sense that I began building scrapbooks containing everything racing from that moment.

The reason these thoughts came to mind stem from the humbling fact that I only witnessed the last decade of Joe Mercer's career. If you go back a decade from the present, racing had seen better days if not quite in the appalling mess it is now on several fronts. Going back a further decade still, to just after the Millennium, it was going downhill, and back another decade to the early nineties, the sport was not keeping up with the popularity of the other major sports and the warning signs were apparent.

That is three decades of the sport gradually declining on many fronts - in stark contrast to the 1975- 1985 period, the last stage of Joe Mercer's career which saw him lose the Hern job to Willie Carson, enjoy a glorious few seasons at Warren Place when he secured his sole jockey's championship, then bow out at Seven Barrows at a time when the strength of Peter Walwyn's team was losing its mojo and was already beginning to struggle before Mercer was appointed.

Out of curiosity, I delved back through the form books to see if I could find the first time I saw Mercer in the flesh. It was Saturday May 29th 1976 at Haydock Park. Mercer guided the Geoff Toft trained Gunner B to an eight length success in the Cecil Frail Handicap. The animal would switch to the Cecil yard later in his career from where he won the Eclipse, amongst other races. At that time in 1976, we were days away from the announcement that Mercer would be replaced by Willie Carson in 1977 as the number one rider for the Hern yard.

I saw Mercer again at an evening fixture  at Haydock Park just six days later, which was the day after it was made public that he was losing the Hern job. At this meeting he rode the winner of the juvenile event, Card Player, trained by Ian Balding and carrying the Royal colours. More memorable though was his ride on Hern's Lighter in the three year old, twelve furlong handicap. The pair passed the post in front but lost the race in the stewards room after his hanging in mount was deemed to have given  the runner up, the future Ascot Gold Cup winner Shangamuzo, several race changing bumps.

My father had backed Lighter and I can remember him being very annoyed, telling me that Mercer was a now a binman and that it was no surprise Hern had sacked him -  little did those outside the loop know at the time that the decision had been made the previous October.

To demonstrate how widely the jam was spread in that 1975 - 1985 period, eleven running of the 2,000 Guineas were won by nine different trainers and nine different owners, eleven runnings of the 1,000 Guineas were won by nine different trainers and eleven different owners, eleven runnings of the Oaks won  by eight different trainers and ten different owners, the Derby by nine different trainers and ten different owners, and finally the St Leger by eight different trainers and ten different owners.

There is no need to list comparisons with recent decades, needless to say the quality is in fewer hands than ever before - you could twist things around and point to the unfashionable succeeding such as Harbour Law winning the St Leger, an animal unfashionable on the pedigree, trainer, owner and jockey front, but truth be told, such illusions of the talented bloodstock being widespread has no grounding.

Moreover, you get some characters using the platform they have to highlight what they view as positives about the present, dreary state of the game. ITV frontman Ed Chamberlin is of the opinion that the classic trials at Chester remain significant only because of the support they receive from the Ballydoyle runners  -  a ridiculous assumption that suggests that if the jam was spread wider, the Chester May meeting would not be on the road map of those in charge of the Epsom aspirants. 

The venue has long held significant classic trials, the track configuration seen ideal by many trainers down the years as a schooling ground for Epsom, thus if the quality bloodstock was stretched across a wider terrain, the Vase, Dee Stakes and Cheshire Oaks, would still frequently be on the schedule of many genuine classic hopefuls.

So, for many, at the end of the day we will just have to be content with immersing ourselves in times when the sport was far more enjoyable to follow. It was only a few weeks back that I was searching the memorabilia sites for any Brigadier prints carrying Mercer's signature. They've now become a more sought after item and would be purchasers need to be extra cautious on the authenticity front. Mind you, come to think of it, I do have his autograph so I can buy a nice print of the Brigadier, and place the signature on view inside when I frame it. That sounds good enough. 

A track from a period when the Stones were going through one of their phases. Released in April 1976, it would have been in many households when the announcement was made the day after the Epsom Derby that Joe Mercer would be losing the Hern job.

GOING DOWN A PATHWAY THAT OFFERS NO FINANCIAL SOLACE

Extra effort has been made by the racing broadcasting media to applaud the part owners play in the sport, highlighting the fact that racing could not exist without them, while at the same time failing to acknowledge that without the levy yielded from punter's money, along with media rights payments which would not be made if punters did not bet on racing, owners would be competing for prizes worth little more than a box of matches, meaning the sport would quickly fold.

Anyone believing that the sport can just emerge from the Covid fall out and get back on its feet to the point to which it was financially performing to the same level as before the crisis hit is deluded. When you hear that underneath the seemingly bright prospect of pubs being permitted to let customers back inside next week, they are businesses that have had to take out loans just to last to this stage of having a chance of getting back on their feet, then we can appreciate how racing will be hit as the numerical, core body of owners are business owners on a similar level who will find out in the next few months if they are able to remain afloat.

I would imagine that up and down the country there is a large number of animals, increasing by the week, whose owners have fallen behind or even given up paying the bills. Almost all of these animals will be in the ability bracket of the majority of those in training, ranging from ordinary to not even bring capable of running fast enough to keep themselves warm.

And the trainers left with money owed to them will do all in their power to balance the debts, part of which unfortunately would be to send the animals to the abattoir. Thousands leave training each year with many fit and healthy horses making this grim journey, something that the treacly ITV racing team do not want to tell their audience about and continue to spin a John Craven's Newsround style yarn.

In fact, we are in an era were coverage of the sport, both via TV broadcasting or newspaper reporting has never been so poor. Those who commanded great respect have in the main been dropped as part of cost cutting measures, fallen ill, or passed away. 

Paul Haigh was at the very top of his profession - even those who cringed at some of his views, including  his fervent enthusiasm for international competition developing within the sport, his wish to build a round all weather course at Newmarket, or his indifferent views towards National Hunt racing, would still agree that he contributed some fantastic, thought provoking pieces down the years, particularly during a long spell with Pacemaker. He also arguably wrote the best contribution ever to appear in the Racing Post, where he interviewed the legendary Maurice Zilber, somehow managing to conjure the great trainer to open up and speak his mind.

It's rather baffling why there has been no reproductions of some of the articles he penned, it really is. Instead the reporting of this deeply traditional sport is gradually being engineered by woke imbiciles whose  views are not in cync with the large majority of the public.

And what about the treatment of the bloodstock journalist James Underwood, established and respected across generations. He made some relatively mild comments on the prospect of diversity politics being needlessly introduced within the sport which has no barriers erected in such areas, but was stabbed ruthlessly in the back as the bodies yielding the power within the sport took the virtue signaling path.

Underwood, who was 89 years old at the time of his comments which were made in an article he wrote four years ago, remarked in his defence that he was from a different age. I'm not sure he realises that a sizeable amount of those from the following generations would not in any way have found his comments offensive. Those that made the decision to cancel Underwood from the sport will no doubt have made efforts to remove from the loop all his works and contributions down the years that have educated many. 

If those with control of the power buttons within the sport believe that being seen to embrace a political fad that has more influence than bare support will save it from declining in face of the impending financial crisis, the they are in for shock. Moreover, it's a mystery why they feel a need to go down this path given that horse racing is right at the summit of non- discriminatory sports. 

It is a most foolhardy and dangerous approach to stride on optimistically, clearing out those that don't their agenda as though that would make things fine fine. As well as the sport forcibly downsizing, there is going to be a shifting in the power hotspots with what is left making the present Irish domination of quality in the jumping sphere appear a relatively trivial issue by comparison. 

From whatever angle you look, UK racing will suffer more than any of the other major racing countries, who too will be in for some tough times. It's going to be a rocky ride with a crash at the bottom of the slope.

From an album released days before the mighty Pendil won his first King George and no doubt being played in many households on that day