WE’RE all lined up at the start for an evening race in Uttoxeter. The setting sun has cast shadows across the hurdles and we’re squinting hard to see through the glare.
I’m thinking ‘I can’t really see the fences here, the ground is racing fast and this isn’t a good situation’. I look to the jockeys around me. I reckon all of them are thinking the same way but no one wants to be seen to be making a fuss.
I’m one of the senior jockeys, so I’m feeling the weight of responsibility.
At the core of this dilemma is a battle between common sense and racing culture. In what other sport would a professional, acutely aware of danger, shut up and just get on with it?
Sure, racing prides itself on toughness, but there are degrees of danger and I myself have been in the past an advocate of the culture that celebrates courage and physical toughness over personal safety.
How often would you see a jockey step themselves down from a ride saying they don’t feel well enough to perform? In fact they feel they may be putting themselves in grave danger. If this were to happen, then my own immediate reaction would be one of distaste — the culture is just to get on with it.
So the sun is still burning our eyes in Uttoxeter and I’m thinking someone is going to have to say something here because common sense demands it — we can’t see the fences; we’re about to set off on a 2m hurdle and as sure as we can’t see the fences, the horses are sure to be thrown by the shadows cast low by the sun, in front of the jumps.
Yet there is resistance.
You know it’s going to take a few minutes once the starter consults with his assistant and then feeds back to the senior jockeys who have raised concerns.
You know that some trainers who travelled long distances to get here are going to complain that their horses have been prepared to run two miles over eight hurdles and not a couple of hurdles less. Do the owners really care? Or will the culture that creates silence in such situations lead to a ‘f**k it, let’s go, we’ll just get on with it and see how it goes’ approach?
Thankfully in this instance common sense prevailed; the necessary conversation was had and the race was reduced to a two-hurdle affair, dramatically cutting the threat posed to jockeys and horses. But will we be so forthright on other days?
As a senior experienced jockey I would like to think so, but again, that’s the common sense argument and the culture is so ingrained that I cannot discount times in the future when the battle will tell me to ‘just get on with it’ as I often expect my peers to.
But really, at this stage, at my age and with my family responsibilities there is an onus on me and other senior jockeys to defer to common sense.
This week’s selections:
£5 each way Royal Diamond 4.25 Ascot Thursday (check press for odds)
£ 5 each way Commitment 8.30 Thursday Ffos Las (check press for odds)
