MY CALL: SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE TO MAKE A DECISION ... ONE WAY OR THE OTHER

By David Fowler | Tuesday, June 23, 2020

David Fowler is the principal thoroughbred caller for Radio TAB. David, who is a keen form student and punter, has enjoyed a lifetime involvement in the racing media. His personal blog, ‘My Call’, appears exclusively on HRO.

I must admit complacency compared to others when it comes to taking on racing issues that have been given a platform.

After 40 working years in the racing media, I don’t know if it makes me a worse person not to have a strident position one way or the other on these big-ticket items.

It’s fair to say the number of contentious issues has risen sharply in the past decade. Probably the same could be said for society in general.

Animal welfare continues to rise as a high priority topic in the racing industry but before I am accused at the hand of my own opening paragraph, let me explain.

There is no-one who doesn’t support increased vigilance on this matter, but it’s important how it is administered.

The rehoming of greyhounds and more recently thoroughbreds and standardbreds has been an excellent and workable initiative.

But the issues of jumps racing and whips have been handled efficiently and inefficiently respectively.

Their futures are both black and white matters.
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Let’s firstly examine jumps racing on that premise.

You either have them or you don’t. And either way doesn’t unduly worry me.

Thoroughbreds are trained to jump and those that are equal to the task enjoy it.

They are an excellent spectacle and, yes, injuries and fatalities occur but that is not uncommon in any horse pursuit.

The industry stared down the activists and won the argument as jumps racing continues as we speak.

There was no searching for middle ground to try and appease all parties.

The success or fate of jumps racing will be a product of the market place.

A continued lack of participation and financial support may see their eventual demise.

There will still be the sprinkling of protesters at jumps meetings but for the time being they have lost the argument because the racing industry acted decisively.
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Disappointingly, whips are a different matter.

Rather than adopt the no fuss philosophy in terms of jumps racing, administrators have “toed and froed” to try and keep everyone happy.

Their continued use has failed to quell the anger of animal welfare activists and, to be fair, many of the general public.

And all this nonsensical number of strikes here and number of strikes there has created is inconsistency and confusion amongst the industry who by and large want whips to remain.

It is clear the issue of whips cannot be a bit of this and a bit of that.

Administrators have to decide if whips are to stay and hang the consequences or whips are to go and hang the consequences.

It might be unpalatable but it boils down to what is the lesser of two evils.

Having a bet each-way isn’t an option.

And having studied the pros and cons of both sides, I’m not fussed either way.

Sorry about that!

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