“They’re Already Millionaires!” Roger Teal Slams New Jockeys’ League

Here at BoyleSports, we caught up with trainer Roger Teal, and he was not mincing his words when asked about the new jockeys’ league.

He questions whether millionaire jockeys really need a new league while smaller yards are left fighting to survive. Teal also opens up about the challenges of keeping top horses in Britain and why prize money needs urgent attention. Even Donald Trump manages to get a mention along the way.

The New Jockeys League: They Are Already Millionaires! Spend That Money Boosting Prize Money Instead

We are talking about jockeys who are already millionaires! It's not the average jockey. They're not going to get a look in, are they?

The jump jockey's £500,000 bonus caused a lot of controversy. The owners are putting into the sport but they're the ones that get left out.

There’s only going to be three or four jockeys, maybe five, that have a chance of winning. It was an open and shut case really. It wound a few people up in the sport. I think that money should be boosting prize money.

Squeezed and Struggling: Why Small Yards Are Fighting to Survive

Absolutely, it's worrying times for the smaller trainers. The big boys are getting bigger and squeezing the smaller guys out.

All we can do is do our best to hold our own. It's tough to win any race, it's competitive wherever you go now. It doesn't matter if you go to Wolverhampton on a cold frosty night, pouring with rain, you're going to bump into the boys in blue (Godolphin) in a £3,000 maiden.

They've got so many horses, they have to go somewhere, don't they?

If you notice, the big trainers used to put their horses away for the all weather. But a lot of them keep them going now throughout the winter. So, where we used to make our bread and butter on the all weather, it's as hard to win a race on the all weather now as it is on the grass.,

I'm 57 years old now, I've been in this game all my life and sometimes you just want to jack it in because it's a tough old game but what would I do now at 57?

I'd have to stay in the sport in some respects. But as long as I can keep going and have horses like Dancing Gemini, who don’t come along that often, then we keep going!

And we've had Oxted, two Group One wins with him. He was a brilliant sprinter.

We also have Distant Rumble. He did us proud last week at Windsor, he got beat last Monday night by a short head with a 6lb penalty. Rosario won a lovely race at Goodwood. The wife owns him so that's handy as it keeps her off my back!

Another nice horse is Solar Army, who was second at Newmarket on Saturday. He won his first race back at Kempton. So, we've got some nice horses. We’ve got a nice three-year-old going on Saturday for the first time out for me at Lingfield called The Hare Rail and his owner is a big Bristol Rovers fan and there used to be a dog track at their Eastville Stadium.

You do need numbers to get the winners. You know you can't hide from that fact. But if we could get to 25-30 winners, I'll be delighted. But to get into the 40s, 50s, you need over 50 horses.

You always want more. When you win races like the group races, that does help boost the prize money up and it helps everyone in the yard from the lads to the owners and me.

My percentages all go back into the yard really. It helps keep the yard afloat.

Why British Trainers Are Losing Horses To Other Countries

It’s very frustrating to see owners now drifting away. Everyone keeps going on about Willie Mullins being the champion trainer and all that, but you know, he's getting a lot of support, a lot of horses are leaving England to go over there because the prize money and opportunities are better for the jumpers. We're losing a lot of Flat horses to France.

And then a lot of good horses are going to Hong Kong and Dubai, now Australia are coming in with massive prices for horses. So, to keep our best horses here, we have to give some of the owners an incentive to stay in the sport and keep the horses here rather than sending them abroad all the time.

We sold a couple abroad because sometimes the offer is one you can’t say no to. That’s a shame because as a trainer you want to keep the horses. But you can understand that when an owner gets a big offer that money talks.

I think everyone has to pull in the right direction. The racecourses have got to be a little bit more generous with their media rights.

Something has to change. I think if we provide the product for racecourses, they have to support us better. Otherwise, there won’t be a product and there’ll be lots of empty grandstands.

Why the Headlines Are Enough to Scare Anyone Away From Becoming a Trainer – And Why Donald Trump Could Make Things Worse

You've got to be an optimist. But it is worrying that the headlines aren't great every day. If you read the headlines, you probably wouldn't do it. In the world we're living in at the moment, there doesn't seem to be any good news. You turn on the news at 10 and it's doom and gloom. I remember when Trevor McDonald used to do the news and they had that ‘And finally..’ segment.

There was a little bit of good news at the end. They don't seem to do that anymore.

It's Trump's killing the world! Hopefully he doesn't start picking on racing or we're in trouble, if he puts tariffs on racing we are in trouble.

Swansea City Are My Team… But This London Club Is My Backup!

I've got two teams. My first team is Swansea City and my backup team is Chelsea. Because when we lived in Epsom and when my kids were young, they chose the team they wanted to support. So, I used to take them to the odd Chelsea game.

I've always been passionate about Swansea; I always keep an eye on them and really hope that they can get back in the Premier League.

We got there a few years back and we played Chelsea. I went to Stamford Bridge to watch that game. And that was good fun. I sat in the Chelsea end with another Swansea supporter sitting next to me and I was having a lean over on him to keep him quiet!

I’m also delighted that Cardiff have gone down, and they finished bottom as well!

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