Honest John gives a wake-up call

By Alan Conway

You can never underestimate honesty. It helps everyone get better. Being honest with yourself first and foremost is paramount. There are times when you may kid yourself and think that you are giving your best, yet when the layers are peeled back the reality will hit you. John Oxx has always been a man of integrity. He is a nice change of pace to the tiresome spin and drivel that we hear about in various sectors of society. When John Oxx speaks it means something and his opinion carries weight.

In a recent interview in the Racing Post, Oxx lambasted what he sees as the drop in standards in Irish racing. He credits the falling standards in part to the boom that Ireland experienced over the last decade, but also to the Turf Club. “During the boom we had this explosion of owners and an explosion of horses… We had this real drop in standards and it is still there,” Oxx stated. “Nobody says anything, but standards have dropped and I need to say that. There’s too much slapdash – rough and ready – and it annoys me”.

The collective standard across Irish racing has dropped; there is no question of that. How much does it cost you to go racing from the time that you leave your house to the time you have your first bet? €50? €60? You can add a bit more if you take your son or your daughter or your wife or your husband. It’s a fairly significant outlay before you have a bet.

If the racing industry continues to keep its prices high while letting the standard of the product slip, people will vote with their feet and not go racing. Perhaps we were all a little bit guilty of letting our standards slip during the boom years, perhaps we are all aware of it, but it took John Oxx to voice it. Perhaps we all need to have a good look in the mirror now.

When times were good, slapdash worked. People had money in their pockets and flung it around like confetti. Now that the Celtic Tiger has left the building and the party has ended what do we have left to show for all the wealth that was in our sport? True, we have enjoyed a golden age in horse racing. There have been several top class horses, including Oxx’s very own star Sea The Stars, that have been raised, trained and raced here. But could it be, now that the good times are over and reality is dawning, that different sectors within racing were guilty of taking their eye off the ball and letting standards slip?

This year we have already witnessed the ugly spat between bookmakers Paddy Power and HRI, which shows no sign of abating. This unsightly argument cannot be allowed to fester. Horse racing’s problems can only be sorted through the cooperation of the different factions involved. John Oxx recognises this and his timely comments should serve as a wakeup call to everyone who loves horse racing in Ireland.

Every now and there is no harm in getting a wake up call. It can re-adjust the mind and keep us focused on the job at hand. Mistakes have been made, but they can be corrected. The challenge for racing now is to work together raise standards again, and, to that end, we are lucky enough to have people of the calibre of John Oxx in our industry.

By Alan Conway