WE all love a good practical joke.
And I saw evidence of an absolute blinder during the British Grand Prix last Sunday.
Kia Joorabchian is a growing force in British racing
Not that I was watching the Formula One – luckily I don’t need any assistance in getting to sleep.
But clips on social media were doing the rounds after a genius group of mates on a stag-do forced the groom-to-be to wear a bright orange ‘Just Stop Oil’ t-shirt, at Silverstone of all places.
He couldn’t move for being stopped and quizzed by the rozzers. Top stuff.
Rossa Ryan must have thought Kia Joorabchian was pulling his leg when he told him he was getting the tin-tack as Amo Racing’s retained jockey last year.
After all, Ryan had bagged plenty of bigguns for the top football agent on expensive buys like Go Bears Go, Hello You and Persian Force and he has champion jockey potential.
The young Irishman was clearly upset at being relieved of his duties, revealing he had lost the big-money job in an emotional TV interview in late August.
That wound-up Joorabchian, who hadn’t confirmed the news at the time, and after carrying out an ‘internal investigation’ he made the split official the following month.
Mind you, it wasn’t long until he slid back into the jockey’s DMs, and he has still been picking up rides for Amo this summer.
In fact, Ryan was on board Joorabchian’s 150-1 stunner, Valiant Force, in the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot, giving the owner his first ever winner at the meeting. Funny old game.
If the 23-year-old was unsettled at losing the Amo retainer he hasn’t shown it on the track, and after a red-hot run of form he has been called up for the much-coveted ride on top sprinter Shaquille in the July Cup today.
In fact, the split has also worked out pretty well for Joorabchian.
He hired another young jock in Kevin Stott to fill the void earlier this year, and Amo Racing are firmly on course to shatter their record for winners and prize-money in a season.
Mind you, there were (admittedly baseless) rumours the other week that he had already decided to part ways with Norwegian native Stott.
I was 99.9% sure the gossip was absolute rubbish, but considering the man involved I must admit I did feel it necessary to double-check.
No doubt, Joorabchian has been a controversial figure since first owning horses in the UK, and he has an itchy trigger finger when it comes to his trainers, too.
Just ask David Loughnane – one minute he’s winning Group races for Amo and the next the horses are taken away and sent to other yards.
But in my view, Joorabchian has been a breath of fresh air for this sometimes suffocatingly stuffy sport.
Not only has he tried to disrupt the establishment – and faced plenty of resistance in the process – but he has thrown enough money at the game to fund at least a year’s worth of Kim Kardashian’s plastic surgery.
And he has never taken the easy option with any of his horses.
Take his star three-year-old King Of Steel, who on another day could easily have beaten Auguste Rodin in the Derby.
He had the option to run in yesterday’s Grand Prix de Paris – which would have been a tinpot Group 1 but for the presence of Oaks winner Soul Sister.
But Joorabchian said, eff that, I’m having another crack at Auguste Rodin in the King George at Ascot later this month – a rematch we have all been gagging to see.
I couldn’t tip s*** off a shovel at the best of times, but I will confidently go out on a limb and say King Of Steel not only turns the tables on Ballydoyle’s star, but he does it with ease.
That won’t do a great deal to improve relations between Amo and Flat racing’s megapowers, but I say keep doing what you are doing, Kia.
The Joorabchian-Ryan break-up might have been messy, but both men have had the last laugh.
