Letter to the Editor by Fiona Craig
Without jockeys we have no racing and without racing, the Thoroughbred business in which so many of us make our living doesn't function. Racing is the pivot around which the rest of us rotate, though thankfully the days of dormitory living and being known by only a surname are in the past. Today jockeys are master athletes and eloquent speakers, but constants remain and sadly falls and injuries are the reality for any jockey, however skilled. They joke themselves about belonging to one of the few professions where an ambulance follows as you earn your daily wage.
The impetus behind Moyglare Stud owner, Eva-Maria Bucher Haefner's, donation to the Irish Injured Jockeys Fund CEO Michael Higgins and Chairman Ruby Walsh at the Moyglare Dinner last Saturday was not gratitude and fame for a charitable donation nor glory for the Irish stud, whose name this dinner carries, but quite simply publicity for the people that the Irish Injured Jockeys Fund represents. There was even a hope that this public gesture might spur other owners to do similar.
Robbie McNamara was Dermot Weld's amateur jockey for nine years, very much part of the Moyglare “team” and victorious in the colors on jumpers Rock Critic and Natural High. The regular training partner of popular stayer Forgotten Rules, he was the man in the saddle the day Forgotten made his eye-opening winning debut at Punchestown. Riding in a hurdle race at Wexford last spring for a different trainer, Robbie suffered a crashing, life-threatening fall. He was one of our own, and as we all looked for ways to help, the Irish Jockeys Association and their own Irish Injured Jockeys Fund was there. Fortunately the doctors did what they do and Robbie's life goes on, just with a different set of challenges now.
A number of charities exist in Ireland to benefit all types of jockeys and their families in a variety of ways. Surely now is the time for these to combine, present a united front to the public, pool resources and both simplify and centralize the fundraising and funds allocation within a recognized professional, transparent and full-time structure as is the Irish Injured Jockeys Fund. As its Chairman Ruby Walsh–a professional jockey so one of the founding members of this fund–expressed so well at the dinner, the days of a Race Day and whip around in an emergency situation need to end. Funds need to be readily available, so there is no delay for an immediate response for any injured jockey from any discipline.
Of course fund raising is a challenge, but not impossible when planned well, particularly in Ireland where so many remain close to the land and most jockeys are part of the community. Insurance only ever covers so much, so often an injured jockey and their family have no choice but to ask for help. They have to be the priority here as does speed when it comes to funds allocation. Few of us will ever know what it means to lose so much in a split second and then return to a life that has little resemblance to the one from before. Goals and dreams remain, but the winning post has moved. Time slows down and if it takes weeks for a funds application to be reviewed simply because people are busy with “other things,” then the frustrations and limitations grow, and that is simply not right.
Sympathy is tempting, but surely admiration is a better used adjective for the quiet dignity in which so many of these injured athletes move on with their lives in the best way they can. They have gone from the pivot of our business to the outer reaches, but they are all still as much our responsibility as when they carried our colors. Let's fix this, and remove only a few of the obstacles on the very different and difficult road they ride to the future. This is not about personalities or any specific charity; it is about common sense and a modern, forward-looking approach. The dormitories and surnames are gone; let's simplify what we have left and make the injured jockey the only priority.
Feedback: Fiona Craig fionacraig@aol.com (cc Gary King garyking@thetdn.com)
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