I hadn't been planning to write a chapter of this blog tonight, both because I rarely do so on a Monday as Monday is generally my busiest day of the week (and this week is no exception) and because the Gordon Elliott debacle - and one could hardly write a chapter today without mentioning that - is a subject which is not going to be short of words written on it. However, one could look at it the other way and say that, if one writes a 'news and views' (as our daily offering in primary school was called) blog, then it would be remiss not to make a contribution to the mountain of words which is being created. On Twitter today I was asked for my views on Gordon Elliott's behaviour, which I gave, so I might as well repeat them here.
Anyone whose life revolves around livestock becomes inured to death to some degree. That includes me, but I'm still hit for six whenever we have an accident, fatal or otherwise. I'm surprised that any horse-lover could be as inured to it to the degree which that picture suggests. Regarding the way forward, this has already done huge damage to British racing. Considerably more damage would be done were Gordon Elliott to have runners at Cheltenham or Aintree etc. I very much hope that that doesn't happen. The message must be clear: such callousness has no place in racing.
2 comments:
Well said John - a very disturbing image which raises doubts about the attitude of Mr Elliott towards his animals.
Since your blog post , John, unbelievably, we have.had the spectre of a jockey “ riding’ a dead horse. The jockey was/ is closely involved with GE ,s yard. Whether it’s the same incident or the same yard, we don’t know, but the extremely worrying aspect of both scenarios is the atmosphere and environment that is supporting such behaviour. That alone is enough to ponder the thought processes of the participants and whether they are fit people to hold licences.
Let’s hope there are no more surprises in store but with so many encrypted media channels available you never know.
Post a Comment