October
JanuaryBiting
Jumps association chief Rodney Rae (9/1) should try to avoid biting the hands that feed him if he wants to keep people on side in his campaign to extend the sport beyond 2010.
"… (E)ven our industry publications are prepared to publish … anti-horse racing propaganda from Lawrence Pope and others," he shrieks at one point.
For "our industry publications", read Winning Post, which by my count has published a dozen pro-jumping letters for every anti-jumping letter, and where editorial opinion pieces have been uniformly pro-jumping — despite the fact that the official position of the "industry" that owns the paper is that the sport is finished.
Rae’s letter details his vision of a vast anti-racing conspiracy that must be stopped now before it moves on to two-year-old racing and finally racing full stop. Sheer fantasy.
If jumps racing is a good thing in itself, that should be enough of a basis on which to argue for its continuance.
If pro-jumps people want to be taken seriously, greens-under-the-bed fairytales are best kept for the pub.
Cremorne (Vic)