I’VE got to start off this week by tipping my cap to the Jockey Club.
When they announced earlier this year they were removing dresscodes from their courses I wasn’t a fan.
Andrew Balding thinks horse racing can learn from F1
People like to get dressed up for a day at the races and I thought it might dumb things down — but last Saturday at Sandown proved me wrong.
There was a huge crowd for the Coral-Eclipse and it was a brilliant atmosphere, one of the best I’ve experienced for a while.
It was great to see so many people there for what was a two-horse race — it was a good call by Jockey Club chiefs, we need to make the sport as open as possible.
And I think we need to make the jockeys’ championship a little more open while we are at it.
We’ve had Oisin Murphy in riding work this week while he serves his ban, and reigning champ William Buick has been making hay.
It could still end up being tight at the end of the season, but I just feel the current format needs a bit of reform.
Jockey’s should be rewarded for riding winners at the bigger meetings — a winner at the the July Festival should be worth double a winner at Catterick or Bath.
What about a Formula One-style points system where winners on our biggest days earn you more points?
I’m not saying you should get extra credit for finishing second or third, but we could just get a little more creative to genuinely reward the best jockeys riding at the top of their game in the best races.
And it would bring people like Ryan Moore, who currently leads the jockeys’ standings in Ireland, into contention. It doesn’t seem right that a jockey of his calibre isn’t in the mix.
I think it’s a narrative that would be appealing to casual fans, too, as things could change dramatically in a short space of time and you could end up having a real day of drama on British Champions Day.
I think the status quo is outdated and I don’t think it’s doing any of the guys in contention any favours.
It would give them a chance to take a day off to catch their breath, rather than slog their guts out every day until October. I’d be all for it.
We had a frustrating time of it last weekend with our big guns.
The Foxes ran great at Belmont and arrived back all sound from New York on Wednesday night.
We were thrilled with him, he missed the break and the writing was on the wall by the first turn. There are big races in him.
Chaldean, on the other hand, was a massive disappointment and I’d have to be Dr Doolitte to understand what happened.
Nothing has come to light and we are just scratching our heads, maybe he needs a little holiday as we were on him early.
They call today ‘Super Saturday’ but in my view it’s silly Saturday — I don’t see why we couldn’t move one of these meetings back a week.
But I’m hopeful NYMPHADORA (2.35) will run a big race at York, especially if they get rain.
