Jockeys Attend Meetings Too…

And there I was, thinking that jockeys had a straightforward kind of existence – go to work, ride lots of horses all day, come home, get up the next day and do the same thing all over again, bar a few races of course…but you know what I mean, a nice life where they don’t have to wear a suit and tie and don’t have to turn up at the office.

I also never thought that they would have to attend seminars! But they do and obligatory they are too, a fact which has just been brought home to eight of them, who have been given suspensions of between seven and ten days for failing to attend compulsory Professional Jockey’s Association seminars.

The Racing Post revealed that with the exception of 7lb claiming apprentices, all jockeys received notice from the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) that they had to attend a Flat Jockeys seminar. Unfortunately for Royston French, Vince Slattery, Steve Carson, Kylie Manser and Patrick Mathers, they failed to attend and were therefore given seven day suspensions when their explanations for non-attendance were rejected by the disciplinary panel. Jamie Jones, James O’Reilly and Jose de Souza were given ten day suspensions when they failed to provide any explanation at all. In failing to attend such a seminar the jockey’s breached rule (A) 31.1.1 of their licence.

The jockeys under suspension are questioning the fairness of the decision, with Slattery stating that in twenty-two years he has never missed one of the meetings and it seems harsh that they don’t seem to have actually looked at his reason for not attending. Jockey John Egan was cleared for not attending a seminar once he proved that he hadn’t renewed his jockeys licence until three days before the seminar and therefore hadn’t known anything about it. Egan was however in breach of another licence rule when he failed to provide a full explanation of his mobile phone usage at Chester.

All the rules for jockeys are obviously there for a reason and are understandably taken seriously by the BHA. It is quite a privilege to be a jockey – in 2008 there were just eighty-four professional jump and one hundred and twenty-seven flat jockeys in the UK and in order to apply for a licence renewal they have to ride in at least twenty-five races per season. With such a small number of experts in their field and such a high number wanting to be part of it, it’s no wonder that professionalism and integrity are seen as part of the job. Therefore any breach in their licence means that a jockey will have to go before the disciplinary panel. Attending the seminars is part of the terms of their licence, so while it may seem harsh that suspension is likely if one is missed, it is definitely something that all jockeys are aware of. Being a jockey is clearly not free of the worries you and I have to deal with in our careers!