Australian Jockeys Association doesn’t agree with Ride Guide ban
THE Australian Jockeys Association (AJA) has come out stating that the Australian racing industry is falling behind other sports apart it put an end to the innovative Ride Guide video preview concept.
The AJA said the racing industry is “well behind other sports in embracing important opportunities to increase our appeal and exposure”.
Victorian and New South Wales stewards told jockeys that if they were to participate in supplying information to Ride Guide, they would be in breach of the Australian rules of racing. Ride Guide is a video-related concept where jockeys give opinions on their upcoming rides. These thoughts were only available to customers of Ladbrokes which signed a deal, but now no racing enthusiast will be able to watch.
“At a number of meetings between industry officials and those behind Ride Guide, the concept had been embraced and endorsed by industry regulators, so it was pretty stunning to hear so many concerns raised after the launch last week,” AJA general manager Des O’Keeffe said.
“Importantly, stewards are on the record as being complimentary of the content and have no specific issue with that aspect of the program.”
O’Keeffe believes jockeys could be charged under the “in their opinions are open to legal challenge” rule, but he thinks the industry can benefit from the new concept.
“Both Unscriptd (owner of Ride Guide) and the AJA are calling on racing authorities to re-engage in order to work through to find positive outcomes for our industry,” O’Keeffe said. “The AJA and significant sections of the industry’s participants believe in the concept and there’s no doubt our industry can benefit greatly from it.”
O’Keeffe took aim at Victoria’s Thoroughbred Racehorse Owner’s Association chairman Jonathan Munz who stated earlier in the week that, “Jockeys have in the past moaned about the lack of consultation from Racing Authorities on various issues but then they go and pull this stuff without consulting with owners, who generally support and try to work with them.”
O’Keeffe headlined the issues with Mr Munz’s statement in return.
“It’s disappointing that a number of the criticisms of both jockeys and Ride Guide were factually incorrect. For example, Mr Munz is wrong in one vital aspect when he says the information was to be disclosed for a “paid subscription” on Ladbrokes’ website,” O’Keeffe said.
“A number of other assertions made by Mr Munz in his statement were inaccurate and disrespectful of our members who work tirelessly in the most challenging of professions to produce racing for the consumption of not just owners, but for the industry as a whole.”