How Much Blame Can Be Put On The Jockey?

áHow Much Blame Can Be Put On The Jockey?I heard a "grandstand jockey" blasting off at a rider recently and it set me thinking.As my regulars know, I have long held a vendetta against the whole method of punishment of jockeys. True, it's world-wide to fine then suspend them; but that doesn't make it right, let alone fit for the 21st century.In fact it's archaic to take a person's livelihood away from them, sometimes on circumstantial evidence and even on opinion.We need stewards, and w

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How Much Blame Can Be Put On The Jockey?

I heard a "grandstand jockey" blasting off at a rider recently and it set me thinking.

As my regulars know, I have long held a vendetta against the whole method of punishment of jockeys. True, it's world-wide to fine then suspend them; but that doesn't make it right, let alone fit for the 21st century.

In fact it's archaic to take a person's livelihood away from them, sometimes on circumstantial evidence and even on opinion.

We need stewards, and we need a racing authority. But preventing a rider from making a living is a very dicey area. Can you imagine a major union wearing this? There'd be a massive strike.

And the union would win it in court on humane grounds alone.The case would be laughed out the door.

So, yes, I agree some riders ride very bad races. I can think of three Melbourne Cups thrown away in the past forty years (the horses all ran second, so that will set you heading for your Miller's Guide!). As I recall none of the three was penalised, yet they cost punters millions.

And I've seen other lesser lights lose their right to work for significant periods for far less costly mistakes. Remember I'm not talking about dangerous rides here (that's a different issue altogether), but errors of judgement by 50 or so kilogram pilots, at about 40 kmh, on 600 kilos of horse.

So there we are. It's my view. You're welcome to express yours if you feel strongly one way or the other, right here.