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First Word
Fancy a game?
Living wholly in the bubble of horseracing is not necessarily a good thing – a broad approach to life perhaps one that we should strive to achieve
RECENTLY I WAS REMINDED of a very important fact – most of my life revolves around racing.
I was chatting to someone outside of the industry, she was asking about my working life and the slightly odd hours that have got to be met (though it is not, by far, the only activity that requires weekend and evening working), and I replied with a shrug explaining, “It is how it is if you work in racing”.
My rather enlightened buddy said: “I suppose in a way it does not matter as I guess your friends work similar hours, too.”
And yes they do. The majority of my friends “work in racing” in varying differing spheres – in racing yards, on stud farms, in various bloodstock offices, or writing editorial or taking photos for racing newspapers and bloodstock columns.
Other mates work in the farming industry, which is much the same.
On one level, isn’t that great? Racing has given me so many friends, colleagues and acquaintances; the industry and my career have provided me with so much of my social life.
After my conversation, I was feeling rather pleased with myself as regards my choice of occupation. It was a decision made a long time ago now but that one move into racing has provided me with a career, an interest, a hobby, as well as my social life, which, while not exactly a social whirl anymore, does at least provide me with some form of entertainment and interaction.
That delight evaporated when I was reading one of the self-help twitter threads that now appear on my Elon Musk-generated timeline. Some guru was espousing his knowledge as to “How to make it in the world and be happy” and his first point given (I am not sure they were written in a particular order) was “Have a broader circle of friends than just your work colleagues”.
Failed. Damn.
But is this actually a “bad thing”? And is it a bad thing for those working in racing?
My conversation buddy (see earlier) seemed to think it was not, it means my group of friends all work approximately the same hours and understand what we are all up to – and can appreciate the reasons why someone might appear late for a drinks gathering or in fact not at all, or can’t make a Sunday lunch for numerous weekends in a row, or is only free to play on a Sunday football team every other weekend.
We all have the same interest – essentially based around hairy animals with four legs running around a field ridden by a small person; and as we all know, those outside of racing (perhaps understandably) just don’t really “get it”.
I am sure others have far more varied lives than I do, but working in racing with its time constraints and its continual 24-hour needs, makes it difficult for its employees to meet acquaintances outside of the industry. There is a danger of a rather blinkered approach to life.
The strange bubbles of the racing and bloodstock worlds can become isolating and can leave racing’s incumbents outside of the mainstream.
I know when I leave the Newmarket autumn yearling sales stint behind me, where for best part of a month I have watched the equivalent to the value of a comfortable two-up two-down, possibly even to the price of a decent farm, spent on horse flesh with a mere nod of the head, it takes me a couple of days to regain my equilibrium and remember that I earn just a normal working wage, and that normal daily bills and living costs need paying from that wage.
These bubbles involve all aspects of the racing life and can be why, when things get tough for those working in racing, it can be so difficult to deal with.
When things are not going right, either as part of working life or in a personal life, it must feel as though everything has gone wrong, every single aspect of a life must, wrongly, feel so inextricably mixed into one.
Those personal bubbles that we carefully create can suddenly become so very fragile.
This all-encompassing world of racing is such a challenge for us all to keep under control, and is so tough for the good people at Racing Welfare to help us all manage in a healthy and productive manner.
Hence there is a whole programme of community events organised by the RW team, in order to help promote mental wellbeing, and combat the threats of loneliness and social isolation that many of us feel even though we can be working in a busy yard or office.
Adam Ferguson, Head of Community Engagement at the charity, said: “Racing is a very supportive industry, a very close knit community, but it’s not to say that just because we’re surrounded by people all of the time and in yards that people aren’t lonely.”
He adds: “We have a comprehensive community event portfolio. We hold almost 200 community events that we run alongside our everyday offers of wellbeing and welfare support provision services.”
We all need to ensure we have outside interests, and something of a life balance, if only to ensure we can keep some perspective on the world we live in – working in any sphere of racing is by its very nature relentlessly competitive and, though often fun, can be stressful, a fact should never be underestimated.
We must find time for a giggle as we perhaps kick a ball on a Sunday morning, putt some holes on a golf course, strum a guitar or enjoy a festival, or that we save up for that holiday of a lifetime, take a morning to enjoy the pride we feel at school sports days or carol concerts; or that we do some good and undertake some community work, that we meet people outside of racing and that we enlarge our immediate circle; ensure that other things in life claim our attention – we must ensure that the bubble does not come under threat of popping.
“The community events are really about enabling people to engage with different people, with people outside of the daily workforce,” says Ferguson, adding: “They help enable racing’s employees to meet different people and to get to know their communities, really be part of the community that they’re involved with as well – it is of huge benefit to mental wellbeing.”
If nothing else, a broad life balance can help ensure that alcohol or drugs are not turned to as the coping mechanism, meeting new people can offer a different outlook on issues that can at times seem insurmountable.
“It is almost just putting yourself back into the into perspective where you’re grounded,” explains Ferguson.
There is no getting around the fact that working with horses and in racing does require odd working hours –horses are living breathing creatures requiring essentially 24-hour care, seven days a week and, as is oft repeated we are in the entertainment business so need to provide sport when the majority are enjoying some down time – so it is a struggle to find the time and energy to do alternative activities outside of work, and also to understand the reasons why we should.
But it is not impossible – trainers and employers are an important cog, and many have lots of great and new ideas and flexible modes of working, but there should be ways that racing itself can back the work already being done by Racing Welfare through its Racing Staff week as well as its year-long range of community activities.
What about providing broad-ranging sports and cultural memberships for those working in racing (in all roles)? Or further developing “community help” days as part of racing’s working world, set up saving schemes to help pay for the one-off holiday, ensure that working contracts can accommodate a set number of family days per year, do even more to establish racing and community sports competitions and leagues, and encourage membership of local sporting, cultural and community groups?
The music nights at racecourses through Racing Staff Week were free to staff, but what about a tie-in with an wide-ranging “culture” pass helping to make it accessible (and on the radar) for those in racing to get to the theatre, or to a concert or a Christmas show.
When I was told recently that a well-respected trainer was stressing because a senior member of staff had taken a day off in the middle of the week and at the height of the season, I was shocked, and slightly taken aback.
It is a well-run and successful yard that could easily cope with one person out for the day.
Aside from pushing unnecessary guilt and mental strain on that member of staff, the trainer probably only succeeded in creating for themselves unwarranted personal stress – trainers are as much in need of mental health guidance and help as everyone else in this industry.
If racing is to produce a working environment to attract the next generation, one in which all can enjoy and reap the benefits of the one-stop-shop that racing can give us – a career, a friendly working environment, life-long colleagues and a job which generally offers a lot of fun –then the industry has to behave in a far more grown up and responsible manner than on occasions it does.
Of course, days out and kicking a ball are not a sole answer for the complex issue of mental health.
But no matter how focused, professional and competitive an approach those working, riding, training, producing, marketing or administering the sport need to take, perhaps racing should not claim every aspect of their lives.
A broader view on life and good life balance can be one part of a wide-ranging programme to ensuring good mental health in racing’s workforce.
We have all been told of the positive mental health benefits achieved through exercise, or the feeling of satisfaction we get from learning a new skill or through creativity; racing’s people need to believe that this applies to them, too.
