I can’t have racing compared to boxing and F1… there’s so much more at stake for the sport we love

‘PEOPLE don’t like change’ – what pompous claptrap!

Most people adore change, provided it’s for the right reasons.

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Anyone else noticed how the condescending and ever more frequently used saying ‘people don’t like change’ is being thrown at us by the sport’s leaders and commentators.

If you want saunas back you don’t like change. If you think the whip rules are rubbish – yep you’ve guessed it, you don’t like change.

And now if you don’t agree with the Grand National alterations – some of which I do by the way, this is just an example – oh yes, you don’t like change and support that now so-called evolution of the Aintree gem.

Evolution! You have to laugh. Do they actually know what evolution even is?

Evolution has never been about the diminishing of anything. Most would consider evolution to involve progression. Not racing. Evolution is caving in.

Anyway back to this nonsense about not liking change. Why are people throwing this at anyone who disagrees with anything? I’ll tell you why.

One, it makes them think they sound superior. Like they are announcing: “Look at me, I’m so with the kids that I can cope with change. I’m not stuck in my ways. Oh yes, I move with the times.”

Two, it’s a way of putting down those who disagree with a point of view without going into any detail at all.

Rather than debate a point just say someone doesn’t like change!

If you are one of those constantly saying ‘people don’t like change’ then maybe just consider this.

How about those who disagree with the changes you are implementing have principles?

Hard to believe for some, I know, but stay with me. How about they think what you are doing is wrong? That they think you are making catastrophic decisions for something they believe in strongly. Just a thought.

In similar vein I was left in disbelief when in an interview over the weekend Jockey Club chief executive Nevin Truesdale started comparing horse racing with boxing when chatting about the Grand National changes.

“You look at other sports, you look at Formula One, the changes in boxing, I mean boxing is a very different sport to when my dad took me to to watch Barry McGuigan all those years ago,” Truesdale said.

“Sports evolve, all sports change. This is our example of that.”

No it’s not.

You simply cannot compare racing with motor sport or boxing. Ultimately it makes no difference to the world if motor sport or boxing finishes. But with horse racing it does.

If people decide they don’t like boxing in a certain format then boxing just ends and the fighters go and do other things. It’s frustrating for them but not the end of the world.

But for racing it is the end.

You stop standing up for racing you eventually kill the breed. That’s it. Finished. Throughbreds only exist to race. No racing, no thoroughbred.

To compare it to sports that have no purpose for existing is ridiculous.

Finally, I’m incredibly excited about the 170 Premier Fixtures sorted by the British Horseracing Authority for racing in 2024.

It’s amazing for two reasons.

For a start, I had no idea there were what one could call 170 Premier days in the calendar, so this news is welcome.

It seems an awful lot for any sport. Nearly half a year solid of top class racing.

Added to that, I had no idea we had that many good horses in training. Well done British racing.

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