The talk in racing

14 April 2012

Bully tactics are pulling racing apart

Rider Paul Scallan provided the quote of the week last Friday when, caught using his mobile phone in an unauthorised area of Newbury racecourse by a Jockey Club security officer, he claimed: "I'm not a jockey!"

Punters who have put their hard-earned money on a horse ridden by Scallan can debate the semantics of this statement. I'm more concerned with the bullying that led to his £250 fine for the infringement. A lot of bullying has surfaced in racing, lately. You'll find it mixed up in a lot of talk about principles.

Jockeys wish to establish the principle that their lives have been made unnecessarily difficult by the Jockey Club's mobile-phone restrictions. And racehorse owners and trainers wish to establish the principle that they will not run their horses in races worth less than £4,000 in prize money.

Both groups have staged boycotts to advertise their positions. The problem with collective action, though, is that some people will be more convinced than others, both of the principle itself and the method by which to highlight it.

When does strong leadership become coercion? I think both groups have crossed that line. This should surprise nobody: racing is a playground full of bullies. The only difference is that these flashpoint issues have made more apparent the peer pressure subtly exerted by people involved in racing. This ugly little trait revealed itself at Wolverhampton last Saturday, when 32 of the 74 horses declared to run were withdrawn by their owners or trainers in protest over low prize money. Connections of the remaining 42 claimed they had been pressurised into joining the boycott.

It's claimed Scallan was also a victim of coercion. He could have used his phone in the authorised zone, but the jockeys' collective are boycotting this facility. "We think he was told not to use the zone by other riders," alleged John Maxse, the Jockey Club's public relations director.

Even though a national newspaper quoted a threatening statement from Kieren Fallon, senior jockeys deny that less prominent riders have been bullied into joining the phoney war. Apprentices also deny they've been bullied. Proof indeed.

The tales of intimidation keep coming but the Jockey Club are unable to act because the victims won't name names and won't go on the record. It's distasteful that the boycotts are led by those most able to afford it.

Of course, it is the less well off who are the most vulnerable to threats of excommunication.

The Racehorse Owners' Association (who recommended the Wolverhampton protest), certain trainers and jockeys should feel very ashamed. Their principles are besmirched by their tactics and the situation has to stop.

Fallon pays the Prix

An amusing tale reaches me about Kieren Fallon, who was enraged by the spoiling tactics of French apprentice rider Yann Lerner in the Prix Niel earlier this month.

Afterwards he stormed into the changing rooms to even the score. But his Gallic colleagues guessed how he might react and had all removed their silks and helmets. Faced with a row of unfamiliar Frenchmen in various states of undress, Fallon was unable to identify the culprit. Zut alors.

Falbrav for the QEII Stakes

Ascot's three-day Festival of British Racing begins on Friday. The showpiece, Saturday's Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, has been made more compelling by the unexpected participation of this season's star turn, Falbrav.

But Indian Haven should not be underestimated. Punctilious can maintain her unbeaten record in the Fillies' Mile that same day, whereas Itnab can enhance her reputation with victory on Friday.

After he sluiced up at York, stick with Jagger if he shows up on Sunday.

Certificates that really need vetting

Prolific winner Misternando was entered in two races last week, each on consecutive days of Ayr's Western Meeting.

There were 22 horses originally entered for the first race, but only four ran - perhaps the rest were scared off by a horse that had won eight times this season?

They needn't have worried. Told that Misternando had failed "to eat and drink with his usual relish" after the long journey from trainer Mick Channon's Lambourn yard, Ayr's vet had no choice but to issue a certificate excusing the horse from racing.

It didn't matter to Channon: he won the race with stablemate Almizan. But would Almizan have won had some of the original entries raced?

Misternando recovered to run 24 hours later, leaving his trainer open to the accusation that he was trying to have his cake and eat it, too.

There are good reasons why a horse might be ill one day and fine the next but vets' certificates are open to abuse. Nobody is making any accusations in this case, but if the doubts continue, the Jockey Club will act - at the expense of the honest.

Going straight is so overrated

Last Thursday, apprentice jockey Tom Eaves was given a one-day ban for not keeping his horse straight on exiting the stalls. He switched to the far rail, interfering with nobody because he was drawn nearest to it.

The rule is superfluous and unfair. It limits a rider's flair, preventing him making the most of a good draw or the best of a bad one. Remove this rule and chaos would not ensue because a jockey could still be banned - that's what the interference rules are for.

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