Seconds Out: Oli's latest monthly blog

What an incredible day we had at York with Trev! Once again William Derby and his team treated RaceShare like royalty and it was epic to see so many of you there to witness another York winner in the RaceShare silks!

I love the fact that we now have our own RaceShare ‘lads’ - a bit like Coolmore. Dressed up in their suits and RaceShare ties! You know who you are!! I’m very much looking forward to William Haggas referring to you in the next winning interview. Onwards and upwards for Trev. What a superstar.

I’ve just made my debut appearance on the Nick Luck Daily podcast where the topic was around the Racing League. I have hosted a Racing League raceday for ITV this year and through the RaceShare association, watched both Robusto and La Pulga strut their stuff. I said on the pod that the Racing League exceeded my expectations when I went there and similarly to the point Matt Chapman made on ITV last Saturday, people shouldn’t knock it until they try it!

In saying that there are a few things I think the Racing League bosses should look at and the main point is where it is positioned in the calendar. To stage some of the meetings on the evenings of major festivals seems like a really wasted opportunity. There was a fixture on the Thursday of Glorious Goodwood and the Thursday of York's Ebor Festival and that has to make it hard for it to be the focus of trainers, jockeys, owners and crucially racegoers. I don’t see why the Racing League can’t run later in the year. Jamie Osborne made a good suggestion of running it from after the St Leger up until the horses in training sale. That seems eminently sensible to me and will allow more of a focus to be placed on those meetings rather than them being metaphorically lost in the wash.

Obviously the Racing League can’t continue if it isn’t commercially viable and League CEO Jeremy Wray made that point at the start of the year. I haven’t seen it have any significant cut through yet so perhaps it may be on its last legs.

Irrespective of whether it continues or folds, what is absolutely key for me is that those behind the League are applauded. At the end of the day the League has provided something a bit different, it is only 6 racedays a year and in my humble opinion we in racing should welcome different ideas and suggestions - that’s not to say they should last forever if they are not commercially viable, but rather then sniggering at the failure of it (if indeed it folded) we should applaud those behind it for trying something different and actioning it. We’re far too quick as a sport to shoot down ideas or things outside of the status quo and in my opinion we suffer for it. By embracing things such as this and giving it a chance, it will give others the confidence to make slightly more radical suggestions - this may not be the thing that changes the game for racing in a positive direction but creating a safe space where people can present somewhat left field ideas without being shot down, is incredibly beneficial for the long term health of the sport - because the norm is not necessarily the future.

I hope La Pulga and Robusto’s owners enjoyed being a part of the Racing League and, who knows, we may be back for it next year…