Congratulations ! (photo: supplied)
I was recently told I have spent the better part of my writing career offending everyone in the industry (I prefer the term ‘challenge’). However, I am also mindful of a quote by Winston Churchill (incidentally, famously a member of the English Jockey Club) that reads: You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.
You say po-tay-to, I say po-tah-to……
Equus caballus is the Latin name for the horse. Throughout history horses have symbolized beauty, grace and elegance. In short, everything this year’s Equus awards were not.
However, it has been my experience that racing folk frequently do not function the same way the rest of the world does. While I love the old ‘abandon logic all ye who enter here’ when it comes to horses (it’s practically a survival strategy), I’m less enamoured of the concept when applied to what I consider ‘normal’ life and things like social interaction with other people (particularly because ‘other people’ are supposed to be our target market). And our national awards, like our flagship race days, fall in that category.
In Murphy’s inimitable way, last week also saw the SA Sports Awards, at which, you might be interested to know, racing got a mention, because Pernod Ricard and G H Mumm won an award for Best New Sponsorship of the Sun Met. Also, despite it being the Sports Awards and despite my being reminded – fairly vigorously – that pole dancing is a recognised sport (which originated in strip clubs, but hey) – there was not a pole or a vertical performance artist in sight. So are they missing a trick? Or are we? Because maybe the bizarre floor show was some attempt at humour or intended as a derivative something or other, maybe you had to be there, but I’m glad I wasn’t. I found it tacky, tawdry and tasteless.
How did this happen?
Racing folk – and I love you dearly and mean this with great affection – are not normal in most senses of the word. The things we think and do are often so out of touch as to be quite at odds with the outside world and I do sometimes wonder how we manage to co-exist with so staggeringly little awareness of the world beyond our tiny frame of reference. Having moonlighted as part of ‘the outside world’ and become something of an aspirant Muggle, I occasionally find myself gaping at some of the things racing does and apparently considers entirely routine. And when I challenge (offend?) people about some of these things and get given what appear (to me) to be perfectly nonsensical explanations, delivered as Nobel Prize winning scientific fact, well, I start doubting my sanity.
Whenever I find myself at such a crossroads, I like to canvass a cross section of ‘outside’ opinion in order to figure out which of us really is out of touch (it’s not that I doubt my own judgement, but sometimes it’s good to have a bit of affirmation – strength in numbers and all that). Last week, the topic of discussion was the Equus Awards and whether or not it was considered acceptable to have pole dancing at a black tie industry awards event. The response was pretty universal on the subject and, for those who haven’t guessed the surprise ending, it was a resounding no (and I didn’t just ask female friends). One friend, who goes to red carpet events on a regular basis, actually prefixed her response with a number of expletives (which I have edited out), but ended with something along the lines of, “If racing has to reinforce every misconception and stereotype that gives the sport a bad name, then maybe it deserves the negative labels.’
Is this appropriate?
Now, I’m not disparaging the dancers. I’m sure they’re terrifically talented and, as I have repeatedly been told, they are sportswomen and that’s fine. But what purpose did they serve at the Equus Awards? And how did they honour and glorify our heroes? And on that note, that invite for the Summer Cup is equally appalling. Adult Funland? What are we thinking?
R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
Another, (male) commentator saw nothing wrong and said he would far prefer watching pole dancing than listening to a string quartet. Well, here’s the thing – it’s not about the audience. It’s about our champions and taking a little time out to acknowledge their incredible achievements for the season. In short, as the late, great Aretha Franklin sang, it’s about respect.
Because there was an awful lot to celebrate. Oh Susanna becoming the first 3yo filly in a 100 years (possibly ever) to win the Met; Boy wonder Lyle Hewitson working his socks off to become our first National Champion as an apprentice in decades; Snaith Racing defying the odds to win the National Trainers’ Championship title from the Cape; a new (dare I say it), respectable Owner of the Year; a century of Gr1’s for Anton Marcus; 117 Gr1 winners for Mike de Kock.
And propping them all up? The shoulders of the vast collective, who worked equally hard, but perhaps didn’t quite have things come together this season. Or even those who had everything go right and had a great season in their own rights and are looking up at the guys collecting the trophies, thinking one day it might be their turn.
Also, while I’m being ‘challenging’, when we’ve spent so much on ‘entertainment’, why not bring in a professional, polished and well-prepared MC, while we’re at it? People took great delight in tearing visiting race caller Terry Spargo to shreds for his Gold Cup call (hey, we’ve all had an off day), so why are we suddenly being polite about Clyde, who sounded as though he’d only been told about the awards half an hour before the off?
Being a good host is about making your guests feel special. When the end of the evening has people worrying about the cut of their trousers and talking more about the floor show and the volume of the music than our horses and people, well, we’ve landed very wide of the mark indeed.
How To Get It Right
Keeneland recently released a television commercial dedicated to the Thoroughbred Industry. It’s titled ‘Life’s Work’ and in it, they describe just a few of the extraordinary lengths we go to in order to do what we do, narrated by the wonderful voice of Ted Bassett. It is an extraordinary homage to everyone and anyone involved and it goes as follows:-
“They say, ‘The harder the work, the greater the reward’ and this is hard work. This is the early morning workouts, and the late nights spent with a new foal. This is the cold, the heat, the dirt and the muck. The years it took to learn what potential looks like. This is our responsibility to those who came before and our legacy for those who will come after. This is a commitment to the Thoroughbred, to the people, to the land, to doing things the right way. The hard way. Because it’s not just about the moment at the finish line, or when the gavel falls. It’s the sacrifice, the sweat, the failure and the faith. This is our industry. This is our life’s work.”
That’s it. In a few short lines. THAT is who we are. THAT is what we do. And – although I can’t quite believe I have to spell it out – THAT is what we should be celebrating. And we offered girls on a stick.
Judged by the company you keep
We’re all familiar with the old adage of ‘The harder the work, the greater the reward’. This week I found a little addendum from Carrie Steckl that I really like, “In most cases, great effort makes us better people.” Isn’t that wonderful? And because we are judged by the company we keep, we are – collectively – judged by our great and good.
It is that Gregory David Roberts’ Shantaram quote all over again. “We know who we are and we define what we are by references to the people we love and our reasons for loving them”.
That’s why heroes are important. Not only are they living proof that excellence is attainable, they allow us to bask in the reflected light of their glory, warm our hands on it for a few minutes to draw strength and inspiration to continue our own journey in the hopes of one day matching or even surpassing their achievements.
When we celebrate our heroes, it’s important that we do it right, because it’s not just about them, it’s about all of us.
So congratulations to all our Equus heroes and thank you all for your blood, sweat, tears, single-minded dedication, hard work and talent. You are incredible. You are inspirational. We doff our hats to you.
