If we were to rank the all-time list, then surely this week’s topic has to go near the top. I do not think it is until you take a step back from the racing scene that you can fully appreciate what is asked of our jockeys. What other industry in the world sends undernourished and dehydrated people out to ride half-tonne beasts at speeds of 70kmh?
If that wasn’t ridiculous enough, they do it with two small hunks of iron and a length of leather to hang on with. It is incredible — how could any other occupation compare to it? Imagine handing that gear to a construction worker to go to the top of a high-rise building after they have not eaten properly in days.
Even further, it must surely make working as a skydiver or on a bungy bridge look as safe as houses. If we restrict the comparisons back to other occupations involving animals, being a jockey must still rate right up at the top. For instance, would a rodeo rider eat next to nothing for days and then sit in a sauna in the hours leading into a big event? Gee, even the shark divers get given a cage and the snake charmers have the luxury of a few minutes to get to a hospital. So, why am I bringing all of this up, you ask?
Well, we already know, from looking around us on a daily basis, that we are in the age of health and safety. Even on a quick trek up Stuart St, every second person you walk past is wearing one of those incredibly trendy orange fluoro jackets.
Although if we probe inside the businesses on that street we will get an even better view of an age in which the cost of complying with regulations strain heavily on any enterprise.
Go into the countryside and you’ll find these costs of running an outdoor or animal-based enterprise nearly run people out of business.
The big question is when are these two worlds going to collide?I can only hope the answer to that is when racing authorities are proactive to tackle the issues head on. Some might say I am being dramatic, but I would argue I am just being a realist.
Obviously, we have some crossover already with safety regulations and with ACC cover.
Although that largely involves dishing money out money, rather than making things safer, doesn’t it?
At some point, something will be forced to change. The notion of doing things as we always have is long gone.
Jockey safety must be absolutely top of the list when it comes to any racing reform.
They may be the toughest people on earth to do what they do, but it is a changing world. Is it time we looked closely at the weight scale and revolutionised it, with safety in mind?
I realise there are pros and cons with doing this, but how about we put the jockeys’ health and safety before anything else.
I certainly don’t claim I have the answer to the questions I have posed here, but what I am suggesting is that it should be a talking point for the industry.
Perhaps this is something for those of us who watch racing to ponder as we enjoy a nice meal, or even better, for those running the industry to ponder over during one of their corporate lunches they pay for with industry money.
Happy trails.
