BRITISH racing really is its own worst enemy at times. The sport there has an uncanny habit of blowing up tiny and sometimes non-existent issues into significant points of debate, with the mainstream inevitably being drawn in for a disapproving look. When I write ‘British racing’, I don’t just mean the British Horseracing Authority, I also mean the British racing media and indeed the British racing public.

This habit has directly resulted in some of the biggest self-driven controversies in British racing in recent years. For example, the watering down of the Aintree Grand National in an effort to appease what are in the main enemies of horse racing has put the mainstream focus on injury and deaths in the race more than ever. More recently, the remarkably incompetent handling of a non-existent whip problem has kept the subject in the headlines for over three years, giving the impression to the mainstream that it is a welfare issue when it absolutely is not.

Brainless

The most recent example of this incredible ability to brainlessly prod the PR self-destruct button came at Ffos Las on Saturday.

In what was a stamina-sapping handicap chase run on testing ground, the horses were finishing very tired and the Callum Whillans-ridden Gorgehous Lliege was, depending on your own opinion, either pulled up or refused approaching the final fence when in second position with every horse behind him already out of the race.

Having given his mount a breather, Whillans decided to jump the last and completed the race.

Personally, I saw nothing amiss with the scenario. Whillans made a judgement call that his mount was capable of safely clearing the fence having been given a chance to catch his breath and his judgement proved to be correct.

Jockeys have to make dozens of judgement calls from the moment they get the leg-up on a horse that could directly affect the performance and wellbeing of the horse under them, not to mention their own safety.

If Whillans thought the horse was in serious danger of falling, do you really think he would have put both his own and his mount’s life at risk by trying to jump the fence anyway? Give him some credit.

Yet, there wasn’t much credit given in the aftermath of the race, with the incident dominating discussion in the British racing media, which only stoked the flames of debate amongst the racing public on social media.

The Racing Post went with a headline of “It wasn’t a great advert for racing” on the front page of their British edition and it was discussed at length on At The Races on both Saturday and Sunday.

Ironically, much of the debate and ambulance chasing by the media focused on an obscure BHA rule relating to a horse not being allowed jump an obstacle after being pulled up but, as that rule is in the section of the rule book relating to remounting, it seems obvious to me that it wasn’t applicable in this case as Gorgehous Lliege had not been dismounted during the race.

All told, it was a massive fuss over an incident that I’m sure wouldn’t have raised too many eyebrows or generated any comment of note had it occurred in Ireland.

British racing has its share of problems but, for me, without question their biggest problem with regard to the future of the sport there is insecurity. Those involved with running and promoting the sport are so preoccupied with pleasing everyone and being as politically correct as possible that they fail to realise that making such mountains of the above molehills only serves to give mainstream observers yet another negative view of horse racing and open up opportunities for opponents of the sport to sling mud at it.

It is true that we live in a world that has become obsessed with political correctness, but here’s the thing: horse racing as a sport is only going to become more politically incorrect as time goes on. In a world that seems to be getting softer with every passing year, the concept of racing horses against each other with people on their backs kicking and hitting them is only going to seem more and more outrageous to the uninformed.

The other salient point is that, whether we like it or not, there are a lot more uninformed people out there than informed. Horse Racing Ireland undertook a substantial survey a couple of years ago to determine the size of the market for horse racing attendees in Ireland and 64% of the adults surveyed were classed as “horse racing rejecters”, those that have no interest in the sport or in attending it.

APPEASEMENT

These are just realities that have to be faced up to by the horse racing industry. This column has called for it on a multitude of occasions but, rather than trying to appease those that do not and almost certainly will never have a real interest in horse racing, our sport needs to be more confident in its own strengths.

It should care less about what the uninterested 60%+ think of racing and worry more about what those that actually have an interest in the sport think and looking after the loyal supporters that the sport has.

Rather than apologising for or calling for a watering down of what can sometimes be harsh realities of the sport, both the racing media and the racing authorities should put the emphasis on educating the public about the realities of regularly misunderstood issues such as the whip, the Aintree Grand National or post-injury euthanasia and showing just how much racing people care for and try to protect their own human and equine participants.

Please don’t mistake the above as a negative assessment of the future of horse racing. Our sport remains tremendously popular and is thriving by many measures in an ultra-competitive market. It is just so frustrating to see some sections of the industry making a rod for their own backs by taking such an insecurity-driven approach to dealing with controversial issues in racing. Rather than stoking non-existent controversies and making rule changes to appease the ignorant, there is no doubt in my mind that full and frank education of the sometimes harsh realities of our sport is the key to improving public perception of the horse racing.