“The crew member who does not row but directs the boat….”
Apt. Our new man at the BHA helm, Simon Cox, will not be riding novice hurdlers down to the first at Cheltenham or booting a 2-year-old out of the stalls at Glorious next week…
But he is charged with steering our unwieldy ship away from jagged rocks and, we fervently hope, to calmer waters…
A background in the Brewery Industry will help at the racecourse bar – but of greater moment is his experience of the coalface as an Owner and a Breeder…
The headwinds rage. And Mr Burnham and his cronies don’t look to be hugely on side. And the Gambling Commission continues to confound with flawed and average logic. And employer costs rise across the board as minimum wages climb and National Insurance responsibilities increase. And the cost of transporting racehorses to racecourses to provide their product ticks upwards almost by the day as fuel prices soar. And the drift to the Black Market and the impact on Levy revenue becomes a tsunami as folk are not prepared, understandably, to disclose personal data just so that they can have £50 each way on one that they fancy…
Align the above with the daily challenges of keeping horses sound and owners happy. Add a worrying conundrum or three – tales to be told further down the line…
Some gig….??!!
But when the going and the tough fall into the same sentence, there ain’t much option other than to keep battling away. Dreams can, thankfully, sometimes mask reality. Dreams are also sometimes total nightmares. Just occasionally, they come true. Did I ever tell you about the time……??
I look forward to meeting Simon Cox. He has horses with my good mate Ian Williams who, I’m sure, will not have given him the rose tinted version…
“Rose tinted” being still what several wear – invariably those associated with the big days that we all love, but days that should not mask the travails and tribulations of our sport’s shop floor…
Too fast for DON PABLO COLINA at Lingfield last night. “Good to Firm” varies from venue to venue. MARSH BENHAM (Benoit) to Sandown later. Andrew Cooper waters well and hard, but still the word “Firm” creeps into the description…
This is England, it will rain. Won’t it….??
I have posted this on more than one occasion previously. But the wonder of this race persists down the decades. “I was there”. Captivated. That mighty Australian chaser Crisp and Grundy and Bustino, you have a lot to answer for….
