Why jockeys aren't happy with the facilities racecourses provide

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In Monday's email Chris talks to the PJA about an issue on which jockeys are demanding action – and subscribers can get more great insight, tips and racing chat from Chris every Monday to Friday.

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Picking a winner at York's Ebor meeting next week would be a tricky business at this stage, unless maybe we're talking about Snowfall in the Yorkshire Oaks, but I can tell you with a degree of confidence what's going to be top of the agenda when jockeys have their annual meeting there with the BHA's top brass.

The size and quality of facilities available to jockeys at British racecourses has been an issue for a very long time and we have reached the point where the collective mood of the riders is to demand action.

"People need a decent working environment and professional athletes should have that," says Dale Gibson, executive director at the Professional Jockeys Association. It's not much to ask, on the face of it, but even now our sport's stars cannot take it for granted.

Gibson tells the Front Runner that 26 tracks, almost half of the total, offer just one shower in the area reserved for female jockeys. Perhaps you're thinking to yourself, 'Oh well, women are still in the minority in this game.' But most tracks have races confined to female jockeys, quite possibly featuring a double-figure field.

Moreover, there are 13 racecourses which provide just two showers for the men, a manifestly inadequate provision which will be easily bested by your local swimming pool. "It doesn't matter if it's raining in October or boiling hot in July, you need a shower after competing," Gibson notes.

Also on his mind is the rest and relaxation area offered to jockeys, away from the space where their colleagues are washing or changing, a place where "both sexes can go and relax with a cup of tea and a chat between races on an eight-race card, where you can get ready for your next ride instead of being sat on your bench for two hours".

That's not asking for the moon, is it? And yet, Gibson reports, there are seven British tracks which don't even offer a separate room for jockeys to eat, away from their changing room.

"Would you participate at a professional level and eat at the same place where you're changing? No, you wouldn't. And any number of tracks have a current provision which isn't sufficient in the modern sporting world. They're too damn small, to be blunt."

The PJA is especially concerned about the provision for female jockeys, who now make up 17 per cent of its membership but are made to feel like second-class participants at some tracks, 40-odd years after the hasty conversion of broom cupboards when officials realised there was actually going to be a woman coming to ride at their place.

"Our increasing number of female members have been particularly patient in putting up with substandard facilities over many, many years," Gibson says. "There are still a couple of broom cupboards. We need to keep brooms in the broom cupboard and treat all our jockeys as proper athletes."

Gibson wrote to the BHA in January, seeking a full review of racecourse facilities for jockeys, since when the matter has been discussed at monthly meetings involving senior riders and various racecourse executives. The hope is that a minimum standard can be agreed and insisted upon by the sport's regulator.

"Some racecourses, the likes of York and Ascot, already have excellent facilities. But, as ever, it's trying to bring the bottom rung up the ladder. Historically, those 10 or 12 racecourses, I don't want to name them but they know who they are, they do need a gentle kick up the backside. The BHA are being very helpful at the minute but the process will take time.

"If it takes two years to get everybody on board, so be it. We're not expecting new builds and hundreds of thousands of pounds being spent at every venue. At some venues, it will be small tens of thousands to create modern, acceptable, reasonable-quality changing rooms and rest areas and shower facilities for both sexes and under-18s.

"There are a couple of new builds in the offing. Leicester have been slow to upgrade over the years, they're in the process of a new build. Worcester at some stage will be getting a new build. Others are in the process of restructuring but it cannot come soon enough. Some of the venues have just let the bar drop."

Monday's picks

A couple of three-year-olds take the eye on Ayr's afternoon card, starting with Brazen Prince (2.25) in a 1m2f handicap. Richard Fahey's team has been having a slow time of it so far this month, scoring at a rate of just five per cent, but this one has slipped to a dangerous mark of 59, 15lb lower than when he was in the York sales race just four starts back.

He showed promise 18 days ago when stepped up to this trip, with Paul Hanagan aboard for the first time. That turned into a sprint and he was poorly placed for it but he stayed on encouragingly and the winner has since won again. He has a better chance than odds of 8-1 suggest.

Andrew Mullen and Iain Jardine combined for three winners at Ayr on Saturday and I like their chances with Bulls Aye (4.35) at the end of this card. He wasn't beaten far when fourth here last time, his first try at a mile, and now drops from Class 3 to Class 5 company, from a 0-95 to a 0-75, in which he is actually the highest-rated runner and the only one getting a weight allowance.

Members can also click here to read Richard Young's best bets for Monday.

Three things to look out for on Monday...

1) As you might expect, well-bred debutants are somewhat thinner on the ground of a Monday afternoon than at the end of the week but one race at Ayr is worthy of note. Karl Burke's Breaking Light is a full sister to Coeur De Beaute, runner-up in the French 1,000 Guineas of 2018. Among her opponents is the Kevin Ryan-trained Merlin's Lady, a sister to Hunting Horn, who won at Royal Ascot and was so often pitched in against Enable.

2) Just a week after Glorious Goodwood, Oisin Murphy has one hand on the champion jockey's trophy, having ridden a remarkable 16 winners since last Monday, the same number by which he now leads. He had a freebie on Sunday as his two rivals rode in France but now they get their chance, because Murphy has his feet up. William Buick has four at Windsor in the evening, while Tom Marquand has four up at Ripon, including the likeable Chalk Stream.

3) Also at Ripon, it may be worth giving a second look to Jojo Rabbit, the Super Sprint runner-up who returns to action for the first time in 51 weeks. He will be ridden for the first time by Joanna Mason, whose record at the track this year reads five wins from seven rides.

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The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a three-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday