FROM THE SHERIFF'S DESK: THE DEFINITION OF A CHAMPION RACEHORSE. DO YOU HAVE ONE?

By John Schreck | Wednesday, March 9, 2016

John Schreck, a former Chief Steward in both Sydney and Hong Kong, has seen both the colourful and the dark sides of racing. His wealth of experience and his deep knowledge of racing matters across the board is unquestioned and the reputation he built as a racing ‘lawman’ remains firmly entrenched in racing’s history. Shreck’s personal blog, ‘From the Sheriff’s Desk', appears exclusively on HRO.

The definition of a champion racehorse ... do you have one?

I don’t!

There are people who will be able to tell you statistically all about that sort of thing but, to me, that designation goes beyond pure statistics which do not reveal how the horse won or what obstacles it overcame to do so.

It is particularly difficult to compare superior horses from different eras.

I suppose, in a sense, champion status is a bit like a work of art ... it is in the eye of the beholder.

The best horse I’ve seen is Tulloch. He nearly died and then he came back and still beat the best of them.

He was a freak of course. He wasn’t well bred and he wasn’t a good style of a horse but he was just a wonderful, wonderful racehorse.

While Tulloch was clearly the best horse I’ve seen, the most exciting horse I’ve seen is a more difficult call.

It was probably Super Impose because of the way he used to close off his races. Manikato was a wonderful sprinting horse. Dulcify was also an exciting horse ... and there are others.

The best loved horse I’ve seen?

The horse in my time that would fit into that category is Gunsynd.

He was a grey and a very beautiful type. He came from Queensland to Sydney as a good horse and then turned into one of the best.

He was a really good racehorse and the public loved him. He had the habit of supposedly bowing to the crowd. There are photographs of that which obviously endeared him to the public.

As I said at the outset I don’t have a clear-cut definition of a champion racehorse. Even going through the different categories as I have done here on a personal level ... best horse, most exciting horses, best loved horse ... is no simple task.

You should try it.

What is does bring home to me once again though is the fact that I’ve just been absolutely blessed to have spent so much time around good horses.

I had the best seat in the house for about forty odd years.

How lucky is that?

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The world is a much smaller place today creating greater opportunities for superior horses.

Years ago I endeavoured to promote the internationalisation of racing from Australia. Some of media were very critical of my views on it, but my views have not changed.

Indeed they have strengthened.

I think it is terribly important that the better Australian horses travel (as Buffering is about to do with his trip to Dubai and Hong Kong) to fly our flag internationally.

Some people in the Northern Hemisphere think the world stops at the equator and some people in Australia think our jockeys are the best and our horses are the best ... and the only way to establish the truth in that regard is for them to go away and compete against others on the world stage.

I think it’s wonderful that they are doing it with Buffering, as others have done before them. The horse has been very good to everybody associated with it. They are certainly entitled to test the horse overseas.

It is good for Australia. It is good for the sport.

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Yesterday was International Women’s Day and it has again raised in my mind the anomaly of the print media having to differentiate between male and female riders.

I can’t get my head around why that has to be done.

It is just inexplicable. Male or female, they all ride as gender neutral. They are jockeys and that is the way they should appear in the media in my view.

I’d like to know, do the media seriously think that a punter needs to know if a jockey is male or female before they part with their money ... or is this just good old-fashioned sexism?

I’ve mentioned this subject before. It needs to be addressed by the sport. It needs to be fixed up and now is an appropriate time to talk about it again.

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HRO comment:

News reports in the last week on this subject leading up to International Women’s Day include:

* Des O'Keefe is the General Manager of the Australian Jockey's Association, has stated that the differences in titles between male and female riders is an obsolete protocol dating back to a time when punters did not want to place bets on female jockeys. “This is one of the last areas we really need to catch up on in racing.” O’Keefe said.

Racing Victoria supports the push for female jockeys not to have 'Ms' in front of their names in the form guides. Racing Victoria has been lobbying for a change and moved a motion at Racing Australia, who provide the data for form guides, for the Ms to be dropped. That motion was not carried. Racing Victoria CEO Bernard Saundry said the organisation would continue to push for names to be gender non-specific.

Victorian Racing Minister Martin Pakula is on record as saying, “"I fully support Racing Victoria's position on this and expect that they will continue to press the matter. I also suggest that Racing Ministers in other jurisdictions tell their Principal Racing Authorities to get on board and support the Victorian position."

Racing Australia chief executive Peter McGauran reacted by saying the subject was, "hardly the most burning issue in racing."