Well, what a fuss Jim Crowley has caused this Flat season? All because he won a Championship under the same rules as everyone before him has done.

Allow me to explain. Jim Crowley is the 2106 Flat Racing Jockey’s Champion. A Competition won by riding more horses to victory than his rivals over the course of the season. Nothing wrong with that you can ask. However for some reason, this season’s victory seems to be calling for changes on how the Championship is won.

This year the season was shortened by 8 weeks. The traditional start at the end of March was replaced by its beginning at Guineas Weekend in Newmarket, with its conclusion at British Champions Day in October, some 3 weeks before its usual conclusion at the end of October.

The belief was that because of the duration of the season and the lengths some jockeys go to, in order to get rides to chase the Championship meant that some jockeys decided not to bother before the season even began. There is also a belief that, like the Jump Racing Season, if you don’t ride for the top stables, and are given the best horses, the title is a closed shop, so why bother? Just get rides and hope to pick the scraps from the top riders when they lose.

But is Horse Racing as closed a shop as, say Formula One? Lets look at some of the historical statistics. (credit : Stats taken from Sky Sports Website)

This year Jim Crowley rode 178 winners. Beating the defending Champion, Silvestre De Souza by 14 wins. However to get to these figures they rode 948 and 930 races respectively. 18.8% and 17.9% of their rides resulted in wins. I have just stopped typing for a few minutes to try to wrack my brains at any other sport when you can win a Championship, both with such a low Win Rate, and at the same time, such hard work to do it.

I’m not just talking about the rides, it’s the miles travelled, the diet, which is legendary amongst sports fans of any discipline, the hours a day working, all to gain the title of Champion. It’s a toll on the mind, on the body, on the riders, their families and friends. The pressures are the sides we don’t see.

But how could it be changed to decrease the strain on the riders to chase races and wins, and at the same time, increase the excitement for fans going to the races, and at home watching on At The Races, Racing UK and From January 1st 2017, ITV.

First thing I looked at was, is bringing the places into it. But that varies depending on the number of horses in the race. Over 8 horses in a race, you place to 3rd, between 5 and 7, its only 2nd. If there are less than 4, its Win or Bust. So if horses that are declared for the race are then pulled out of the race as late as half an hour before it, then a Jockey chasing the title may see his chances of gaining points reduce. And if he or she aren’t on a horse they feel can win, suddenly what was initially safe points become a risky ride.

The next option, is Points Per Pound. Run a similar system to the PGA and European Golf Tours and the PDC Darts Competition. For every race the jockey wins money, they become points to the riders total throughout the season. Yes, I know jockeys are paid a flat fee or if lucky enough to be retained, a salary. With this people will say that because prize money also varies depending on the calibre and standard of race again the prize money will vary. A jockey could finish 7th in one race and earn more money in that race that getting 3 winners combined on the same card. And again, the top jockeys will get more rides, therefore earning more money on the Order of Merit.

Third, extend the season back to what it was. If you want to win the Championship, then sorry, but they are the dates. It wasn’t an issue for decades, but now the duration of the Flat Jockey Season has become a complaint now? And what of the Trainers Championship? Which is still a 12 month Competition, from November to November? The All Weather Jockeys Competition runs from November to March, what happens there? Is this now a separate season.

Why not Unify the Titles, like in boxing? Have the Flat season incorporate both Turf and All Weather Races? It then gives jockeys an option. There are some who prefer Turf over Tapeta, and vice versa. There are those who will only work on one surface. Would a Unified Championship be a success? And when would the Championship begin and end. Would it match the Trainers Championship, November start and finish. Or would you use the start of the Flat Season in March, ending it on All Weather Champions Day?

Lastly, keep things as they are. A shorter Flat Season, with racing 7 days a week, jockeys jumping in cars and helicopters to chase rides and meetings up and down the country, racking up the miles for a 3 horse race at Newmarket before flying down to Ascot for a 22 horse 5 furlong sprint. Which is the current Status Quo.

For now, it looks like nothing will change for the foreseeable future, so once again in March 2017, Flat Jockeys will once again begin to rack up the miles up and down motorways chasing races, rides and wins to secure a Championship which for them is vindication of all that work. At the end of the day, isn’t that what we watch the Sport of Kings for?

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That Sporting Guy