For the first time since its founding in a London pub in 1750, and nearly 60 years since it conceded before the high court that women should be allowed to hold full coaching licences, the Jockey Club is apparently prepared. will appoint its first female senior representative in elections to be held later this month.
Sky News reported last week that Dido Harding, aka Baroness Harding of Winscombe, is expected to replace current senior executive Sandy Dudgeon from July 2024. Given that the Jockey Club has been exclusively male for over 200 years, before electing three women as presidents, based on its ranking in 1977, this could be seen as a sign of the accelerating pace of change at the Rooms in Newmarket.
But you don’t need to scratch too far below the surface to feel like everything is covered in sauce as usual.
Harding is an identical senior steward in almost every respect except her gender; He is the latest in a long line of blue-blooded, privately educated individuals, mostly from the landed aristocracy, to be appointed (unpaid) chairman of one of the board members. The most exclusive private members clubs in the country.
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Moreover, it is a club with considerable influence in an industry that has a turnover of billions and employs tens of thousands of people. Its subsidiary, Jockey Club Racecourse, owns and operates many of the country’s top circuits, including Cheltenham, Aintree, Epsom, Newmarket and Sandown. The Jockey Club is therefore the largest employer in British racing, with an annual turnover of more than £200 million.
Like every senior commissioner since 1970, Harding will work with little oversight because he was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II more than 50 years ago. The Royal Charter granted to the Jockey Club by Elizabeth II assumes that the stewards will always act in the interests of racing. is a whole and must be left alone to continue with it. The club could argue with some justification that when it moved to secure Aintree’s future in the mid-1970s, for example, it was a win. But naysayers may point to his plan in 2017 to sell Kempton Park for housing and build an all-weather track at his Newmarket home instead.
Harding is well-known in the racing world as the owner of Cool Dawn, who won the 1998 Cheltenham Gold Cup, and is also a former amateur jockey with several dozen wins to his name. He is also – at least for now – very well connected to the corridors of power. He has been a friend of the new foreign secretary, David Cameron, since university and has been one of the Lords’ more active and engaged peers since his elevation in 2014; Her husband is John Penrose MP, one of the few Conservatives with a majority as foreign secretary. quite impregnable.
But unlike most prospective senior referees, Harding has a wider public profile. His business career included seven years at telecoms company TalkTalk; during this time a data leak exposed details of 4 million customers; He was then appointed head of the government’s ££ by Matt Hancock, then health secretary and also MP for Newmarket. $37 billion test and trace program during the Covid pandemic. Its effectiveness remains a matter of debate.
Lingfield Park 12.00 Always Fearless 12.30 Rich Harry 1.00 Dashing Darcey 1.30 Via Blanc 2.05 Blue Universe (confectionery) 2.35 Star of St Louis 3.05 Adil Dinkum 3.35 Norse Victory
Southwell 12.15 Sageburg County 12.45 Presenting Nelly 1.15 how do you play the game 1:50 A Professional Po 2.20 smurfette 2.50 Classic Concorde 3.20 Annie’s Day
Wolverhampton 5.00 Hard Solution 5.30 amron 6.00 Agostino 6.30 galloping 7.00 Talis Evolvere (nb) 7.30 what do you know 8.00 Up to Minute 8.30 Trustworthy Scout
There is no doubting Harding’s passion for the sport of horse racing and therefore his courage and resilience under pressure.
This was even more evident at Wincanton racecourse a quarter of a century ago when Harding rode Cool Dawn in the Grade Two race just six months after his Gold Cup success. Cool Dawn went backwards as they left the paddock and landed on top of the owner rider, but he collected himself and continued on regardless.
Whether that will entitle him to one of the sport’s most powerful roles is another question. Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth’s death may have been the right time to review the Club’s royal charter, but instead it looks like business as usual or democracy, and it may seem like the 21st for the Jockey Club to elect its first female senior officer. A movement from the 19th century actually resembles the mid-19th century in many respects.
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