Speaking exclusively with BOYLE Sports, Racing trainer George Baker has spoken honestly about the state of Racing and argues that “Big Money” is not relevant to the bigger racing picture.
George gives his honest thoughts on the disparity between prize money, calling the UK insufficient when compared to other jurisdictions and explains that vested interests are holding the sport back.
The piece concludes with the Epsom trainer admitting it’s impossible to compete with the Irish trainers, but says he dreams of success in the Melbourne Cup.
Big Money Not Relevant To Bigger Racing Picture
I think we have a tremendous dynamic through the season of all these amazing Festivals that starts pretty much with the Craven and then the Guineas and then rolls on through all the trials. You've got the Derby, Royal Ascot, then Newmarket’s July meeting, Goodwood, and York. There really is a fantastic dynamic to the Flat season. But we don't have a sort of conclusion like Cheltenham.
If you go racing this summer, obviously, as I do on a regular basis, there are a lot of people there. They are really enjoying it. The sport's fantastic. The protagonists here, in terms of the jockeys and trainers and horses, are up there with the best in the world. We have the wonderful diversity of race courses, amazingly unique venues, and we have a fantastic product.
But we do have headwinds against the sport. The top end of the sales is always the ones that are reported on. It'll all seem gilded and wonderful because Sheikh Mohammed and Amo Racing and the Coolmore battalions and the other big guns will all go head-to-head.
For them, money is no object and not relevant to the bigger picture. But it would be very interesting to see how the sales are below the rarefied top, because people are nervous in this country. People are worried about the autumn statement and the budget, and how that's going to impact people's affordability to go and actually have fun. There are people in London or all around the country who are hanging on to their jobs, and there's a worry about what the next few months bring.
That’s not a great environment to rush into London and get six people around the table and tell them to go and buy a yearling. But the flip side and one of the legacies of Covid is that people want to have fun because they don't know what's around the corner.
People still want to have fun. If you give up your leisure choice, what have you got? The leisure pound is so important to people because it is why they work so hard. And that is under extreme pressure right now. It's a scary time to be involved in the leisure industry.
“Outrageous” Worldwide Prize-Money
It is really tough out there. You look around the world at racing jurisdictions where they have a PMU or a Tote Monopoly, and you see a very, very viable and vibrant business. Look at Australia, look at Hong Kong, America, France and Japan. It's just outrageous. In Australia, you look at a journeyman midweek card at a country meeting and a maiden running around for $20,000 to the winner.
Prize money is just not part of the business model. We'd love to be running around for more. In many jurisdictions, you win a horse race or certainly two in a year, and you pay for your training fee. I've had people leaving the sport, genuinely leaving the sport, because I've won them a horse race, and my invoice at the end of the month is more than that winning.
It makes me really envious of people who train in other jurisdictions. But I love the sport here.
Vested Interests Holding Racing Back!
I hope so! The vested interests in the sport drive me absolutely bonkers. We're in this for the greater good of the whole sport. Yet you get people fighting their corner in such a short-sighted way that it is actually mind-boggling at times. It makes me wonder how bright these people can be if they are genuinely feeling that their own marginal vested interests are more important.
I’ve spoken to Lord Allen. He is a heavyweight. He has held several feet to the flame here and said come on, boys and girls, you’ve really got to pull yourselves together. I see hope and I see progress in what he is doing.
But there are a lot of very intransigent people within the sport who have been very influential within their own vested areas. That has massively held us back. I just hope now that he can get them into a room and lock the door, and explain how the path to the greater good is going to require sacrifice. Short-term sacrifice, hopefully, for the long-term good.
We have to be optimistic that he's going to give us a real chance. I enjoyed my conversation with him. I ended it genuinely believing that here was a guy who was passionate to do the right thing within the industry.
Impossible To Compete With Irish
It is almost impossible competing with these guys.
But one of the wonderful things about our sport is that one of the big battalions can go and spend £3m or £4m on a yearling. And we can go and spend £25,000 pounds on a yearling. And we can end up in the paddock at Ascot, and we can beat them. That is why the dream is alive for owners.
If just spending the big bucks guaranteed success, the rest of us wouldn't bother. We wouldn't have a chance. We wouldn't have our owners. It is hard. It's becoming harder. It is incredibly hard to compete, and that is why, from the outset, we have had the mantra, ‘Have horse, will travel.’ You have got to go off piste.
That is why something for a team like us winning at Royal Ascot this year is really amazing, and it's our Olympics. A day like that is completely extraordinary because you spend most of the week wandering around watching the usual suspects lifting up trophies.
Melbourne Cup Dream
I would love to win the Melbourne Cup. For years and years, and before I became a racehorse trainer, I've annoyed Mrs Baker by setting the alarm to watch the race in the middle of the night. It would be fantastic to be involved. Aside from the Melbourne Cup, closer to home and the Arc de Triomphe would be right up there.
That's a fabulous horse race. If you said one race in the rest of your life, it would be that Sunday at the beginning of October in the Bois de Boulogne in the Arc de Triomphe.
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