Dial 999 for Barry Hearn...
When there’s an emergency what do you do? You dial 999 and choose one of the following - Police, Ambulance or Fire Brigade...in very special cases you can also press ‘4’...this takes you straight through to the genius that is Barry Hearn. ‘Sport is made for betting’ recently posted his thoughts on the proposed changes/introduction that Racing Enterprises Ltd, or The Horseman’s Group, or Racing For Change have earmarked for British horse racing...it’s already messy isn’t it.
In short, whatever their name is, want to make horse racing in the UK more appealing to the next generation, bring new money into the sport, make it more exciting, and simpler to understand. Great idea and much needed as personally I can’t stand horse racing despite my families steep history in it. I’m supposed to be a 3rd generation enthusiast but my eyes glaze over when someone talks about a 2 year old maiden trial for the bumper (no idea if that even makes sense).
Horse racing is currently run by tweed wearing, yar yar spitting, self important members of the upper classes who offer a limp handshake to anyone that’s not called Henrietta or Tarquin and are totally out of touch when it comes to dealing with people called Janet of John, and from what I’ve seen I fear that whilst they may have the best interests of horse racing in mind, Racing for Change, may well fall into the Tarquin category and fail to connect with the likes of Johnny.
The racing hierarchy and those that like to be associated with it put too much emphasis on its history and that’s its main problem (along with the fact that they’re stuck in their ways and lack the creativity to bring the sport up to date). The sport of kings needs to be blown up and reinvented and only Hearn would have the cheek to do that – look at how darts is now flourishing, the Prizefighter series is a breath of fresh air, and of course snooker is about to have the Hearn wand waved at it.
Would he do it? I doubt it, he has a passion for racing but it probably doesn’t run that deep. Would he ever be asked to do it? No f**king chance, but he has been known to set up rival governing bodies before...I can see it now - The Premier League of Horse Racing. Brilliant.
What would the Hearn wand magic up?
Glamour Girls Replacing Jockeys: 6/4 (sorry 1.5/1)
Jockey Nicknames i.e. Frankie ‘The Italian Stallion’ Dettori: 1/10
100m Sprint Races: 1/10
Horses going down to the start to ‘Simply The Best’: 1/10
I'd queue up in the snow to watch...!
Pyrah Jnr.
