Cover image courtesy of Swettenham Stud

Adam Sangster’s picturesque Swettenham Stud, based in Nagambie, Victoria, has crafted a robust and versatile roster of five stallions, each bringing world-class bloodlines to breeders at accessible fees.

Heading the roster of five is the Irish-bred Toronado (Ire), a son of the extraordinary High Chaparral (Ire), was a class racehorse winning elite mile contests such as the G1 Sussex S. and the G1 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot.

Toronado started his stud career as a shuttle stallion before Swettenham Stud acquired his services outright from Al Shaqab Racing. Since he retired to stud, Toronado has gone from strength to strength. His stakes tally sits at 33 worldwide, and he has four individual Group 1 winners.

Rarely a month of racing goes by where a stable doesn’t unveil a promising galloper by Toronado. He will again stand the 2023 breeding season for $88,000 (inc GST).

The dual Group 1 winner is set to receive a strong book of mares for the 2023 breeding season, and according to Sam Matthews, general manager of operations and nominations, it will be the strongest book Toronado has received to date.

“Toronado will receive his best book to date in 2023,” Matthews told TTR AusNZ.

“Adam (Sangster) will be supporting his flag-bearing stallion with quality mares once again this season (including): Decent Raine, Gaze Grise and Rain Cloud.”

Decent Raine, a daughter of Dissident, has been retired to stud and will visit Toronado in her maiden season. Trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, she was a three-time winner including the Ballarat VOBIS Gold Eureka Stockade, in addition she was placed in the G3 Scarborough S., and the G3 Northwood Plume S.

“Decent Raine was a mare we had a lot of fun with on the racetrack. She placed in four stakes races and earned over $450k in prizemoney and bonuses,” Matthews told TTR AusNZ.

“This will be her first year at stud and she will visit Toronado.”

Gaze Grise, a daughter of Toronado's barnmate Puissance De Lune (Ire), is also set to visit Toronado in her maiden season. She was a six-time winner who was twice placed at Listed level, in addition to running fourth in the G3 DC McKay S.

She hails from the family of Long John (Street Cry {Ire}) who won the G1 Caulfield Guineas before being exported to the United Arab Emirates to win the G3 UAE Two Thousand Guineas, earning the Champion 3-Year-Old Miler in the UAE for 2013/14.

“We recently purchased this mare (Gaze Grise) on the Inglis Digital platform. The resultant foal will be a true product of Swettenham, given Gaze Grize is a multiple stakes-placed daughter of Puissance De Lune.”

Rounding out the Sangster/Swettenham-owned mares visiting Toronado is Rain Cloud, an unraced daughter of Domesday. Rain Cloud is a half-sister to Shared Reflections (Umatilla {NZ}) a speedy juvenile who claimed the G3 Sweet Embrace S. and was fourth in the G1 Sires’ Produce S.

Rain Cloud is already the dam of the talented Queen Air, a daughter of Toronado, who was placed in the G1 VRC Oaks and fourth in the G2 Wakeful S. and the G2 Moonee Valley Fillies Classic.

“A proven recipe is this one,” Matthews said.

“Rain Cloud is the dam of Toronado’s VRC Oaks placegetter Queen Air, so, it was only natural she would revisit him.”

Outside of stud-owned mares Toronado will also see a strong contingent of outside mares use his services.

“Breeders are flocking to Toronado once again this season, but the level of mare that he will receive continues to soar year in, year out,” Matthews told TTR AusNZ.

“Robert Crabtree is sending Catchy along with plenty of other exceptional mares.”

Catchy, a daughter of Fastnet Rock, won the G1 Blue Diamond, she also claimed the G2 Arrowfield 3YO Sprint and G2 Danehill S. in addition to placing in the G1 Caulfield Guineas and the G1 William Reid S.

“Tim Ungar and his partners will return to the golden source that provided them an $850k yearling with their Pierro mare Tereka; another Three Bridges Thoroughbreds client that has enjoyed success with our son of High Chaparral.”

Excitingly, star mare Annavisto (NZ) (Reliable Man {GB}) is booked to visit Toronado in her maiden season.

The blisteringly fast mare is a seven-time winner, claiming the G3 Frances Tressady S. twice and running second in the G1 Queen of the Turf S.

The daughter of Reliable Man (GB), owned by Pendant Equine, will contest the G1 Memise S. as her very likely farewell from racing.

The booking with Toronado illustrates the esteem the stallion is held in; for Matthews it is an important booking, “Pendant Equine's superstar mare Annavisto will be retired to stud and will be given the best possible start as a broodmare.

“She is booked with an early September date lined up with Toronado.”

Wooded proving popular

Returning to Swettenham Stud for the 2023 breeding season is the G1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp hero Wooded (Ire).

Wooded, a son of the sire sensation Wootton Bassett (GB), will stand the 2023 breeding season for $22,000 (inc GST).

“Breeders have identified Wooded as an exciting young sire prospect; the fastest son of a sire that can do no wrong in Wootton Bassett.

“Our good friend (Swettenham’s) Tony Ottobre is sending his Group 1-winning mare Princess Jenni to Wooded, following the birth of her Snitzel foal.”

Princess Jenni, a daughter of High Chaparral, won the G1 Schweppes Oaks, the G2 WH Stocks S., the G3 Alexandra S. and the G3 Bendigo Cup.

“We have massive faith in Wooded and will once again be supporting him heavily in 2023 with some exceptional mares,” Matthews told TTR AusNZ.

“Sangster’s city-winning granddaughter of Group 1 winner Kapchat, Energy Within, will return to Wooded again this season.”

Rubick to make magic again with Ponterro?

Standing at $27,500 (inc GST) this season at Swettenham Stud is Rubick, a sire of The Everest hero Yes Yes Yes, who stands at Coolmore Stud and the multiple Group 1 winner Jacquinot, who will stand his maiden season at Widden Stud.

The son of Encosta De Lago offers breeders incredible value, given he is a proven proposition with nine stakes winners.

The 2022/23 breeding season alone saw Rubick sire the G2 Autumn S. winner Glint Of Silver, the G2 Sheraco S. winner Shades Of Rose and the exciting Listed winner and Group 2-placed Opal Ridge among his highlights.

“Lindsay Maxsted is sending Ponterro, the dam of Rubick’s multiple Group 1 winner Jacquinot, back to the sire that made the magic happen.”

I Am Immortal's progeny earn praise from trainers

I Am Immortal, who will be represented by his first runners this season, will stand the 2023 breeding season for $13,750 (inc GST).

The fee appears to be terrific value for a son of the Australia’s Champion Sire I Am Invincible. I Am Immortal showed natural ability as a juvenile winning the G3 Blue Diamond Prelude (Colts and Geldings) and the Listed Blue Diamond Preview (Colts and Geldings).

“Magnagem is set to visit I Am Immortal. Her colt commanded $150,000 at the Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale earlier this year, so it’s no surprise to announce that she will be returning to him this season, especially given the early rapts that trainers are giving the I Am immortal juveniles.”

Magnagem, a daughter of Magnus, is a half-sister to the Group 1 producing sire Gold Standard. Her fourth foal, a colt by I Am Immortal was consigned by Willow Dale Farm as agent for Dorrington Farm at the 2023 Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale where the colt was knocked down for $150,000 to Millfields Park.

Table: Some of the matings Swettenham Stud is planning for the 2023 season

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

Working hands-on with horses serves us with enough regular reminders of the importance of workplace/occupational health and safety (WHS/OHS). For Daniel Morgan, Director at Safe Industries Australia, the business imperative is clear, especially in a time of general staff shortages.

“There is always the legislative requirement to reduce risk, but you also don't want people injured, off work and on workers' compensation and having to deal with all of those secondary issues,” he told TTR AusNZ.

“People want to be concentrating on what they like doing, and trainers like training racehorses.”

Growing up in Scone gave Morgan a thorough education in all things horses, from campdrating to trackwork. He left to train as a lawyer, but always niggling in the back of his mind was how he might apply his new skills to the scene of his formative years.

“I wanted to create a space where I could give advice, use my knowledge from the industry,” he recalled.

Returning to Scone to practise as a lawyer gave him the opportunity to do just that, and he found his past experiences served him well when it came to the nuances of his new client base. Now, it’s the same when it comes to Safe Industries.

“Everybody that we have with Safe Industries actually knows something about the business that we're working in. I think that makes a big difference,” he said.

“The standout point for our business is that we can talk to people at the grassroots level so that they can be confident that we understand what work they need to do and how we can structure a safe system of work that suits them.

Up and running

An intimate knowledge of the industry undoubtedly benefited Morgan as he started out back then working with stud farms and stables. But, whilst his contemporaries from those formative years were, like him, from horse-related backgrounds, things were beginning to change.

“What we then commenced was going out to farms and talking to them about their systems and getting the historical knowledge from people who had worked there a long time,” he said.

“We put that on paper so that we could pass that information on to new employees and employees who may not have been traditionally from a horse background like we had.”

Societal drift to the cities and the availability of more appealing work elsewhere has changed the workplace dynamics in the thoroughbred industry, according to Morgan.

He said that it’s led to a growing proportion of employees entering workplaces without having spent their childhoods on horseback - or without any horse experience at all.

“We wanted to transfer that knowledge. I found that I was working as a lawyer in the safety space, but I was giving safety advice as opposed to legal advice. That's how the business evolved.”

Recognising the need for industry-specific WHS/OHS systems, two Daniels, Morgan and Bowcock, started Safe Industries and began producing policies and procedures, and offering face-to-face inductions and training on-site.

Moving with the times

The labour-intensive method of old has these days been replaced with Safe Industries' suite of online training and induction platforms. Morgan explained that one of the few benefits of COVID is that people are now accustomed to doing things online; “Geography is not a problem,” he summed up.

However, that doesn’t mean the company is now faceless, with the growth of the business meaning they’ve recently been able to hire Garry Cuddy as national sales manager. It’s a stark change of direction for Cuddy, who was previously General Manager of Spendthrift Australia.

That experience brings a number of benefits to Safe Industries that Morgan cited; not only is he another example of someone at Safe Industries with a depth of industry experience, but his role at Spendthrift means he’s also a former client.

“The beauty of the product is that it was something that we believed in throughout my time at Spendthrift,” Cuddy recalled. “If you ask Daniel Bowcock, he always gave us a gold star because we believed in the product and actioned change within our workplace.

“We did what he asked of us and our staff were very accommodating to the platform and our requirements of them as individuals.”

From Cuddy’s experience, recent years have seen a shift change in attitude towards safety in the industry. Despite that the central practice remains largely unchanged, the latest generation of horsemen are showing a broader set of priorities.

“There's some people that are set in their ways and that's a reality of life,” Cuddy said. “But, there's a new age of people coming through and we understand the importance of safety.

“We understand the importance of going home every night to see your kids, your wife or husband, your family. I think that is a part of the workplace, and life, that people have missed for many years, but that's how a business like ours comes to exist.

“One of our visions is to change those thought processes and make people realise that safety really doesn't sleep.”

Cuddy might not be able to resist slipping in the company tagline with a wry grin, but he’s far from insincere. It’s clear that, for Morgan, the foundational appeal of bringing Cuddy into the business is his genuine belief in the product.

“People understand the product now,” Cuddy continued. “People want to work in a safe environment. Our staff (at Spendthrift) knew that they were working in a safe environment because we held them accountable to their actions and we made sure that they were adhering to all the rules and regulations that we had in place.

“And, if they didn't, well, they knew about it. And that's the beauty of a platform like this - it's sat there, it's clear, it's plain and simple, and everyone gets it. Everyone has the same rules.”

Getting stuck in

From its base in Scone, Safe Industries initially spread its reach into metropolitan Sydney and surrounding areas, then more recently into Queensland, Victoria and even Western Australia. So, by all accounts, Cuddy will be a busy man.

“We are starting to make our presence felt,” he said. “We've got a significant client base through a lot of the major Australian stud farms.

“We also now have a significant partner in Racing and Wagering Western Australia, where we look after the three codes of racing over there and their racetracks.”

For all that he’s excited to be starting something new, Cuddy does admit that he now has quite a different set of responsibilities than when he was managing Spendthrift.

“I think one thing that I've said to the guys from the start is that I've got to remember that I'm not the general manager; I'm a sales manager,” he said.

“So, I'm going to take that theoretical step back. But at the same time, I think the team has been very appreciative of what I brought to the table so far.

“We have had some frank conversations from the get-go, and one of the targets for me is to end up back in a senior management role down the line, and that's a target that we've all set from day one.”

Cover image courtesy of Racing Photos

“A bit of a surprise”, is how Mike Becker described his reaction to his name being called out at Saturday evening's Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria awards night though everyone agreed that it was a most deserved recognition of his achievements.

It was not the award that Mike enjoyed most about the evening however, but what he saw around him... “The best thing about the night was seeing how many young people were at that function,” Becker said, laughing as he added, “It was not just a room full of dinosaurs like me!

“There are so many opportunities for young people in racing at the moment, the world is crying out for them,” Becker said, noting the variety of experience someone starting off in breeding can enjoy - both here and internationally.

It was not the same, he noted, when he kicked off his career in horses though his destiny as a studmaster of a famed Victorian farm was not something he set off to achieve as a kid growing up in Margaret River, Western Australia.

His parents were not particularly horse people but his grandfather always had a couple of mares, on his sole trip to Victoria purchasing a mare from Sol Green (the Australian Racing Hall of Fame member - successful bookmaker, owner and breeder) with whom he enjoyed good success.

Every weekend Mike would hop on his bike and ride out to his grandfather's dairy farm... when it came to horses “he got the bug very early!”

As a 16-year-old in Perth, Mike was enduring 5am starts working at the Elders sale yard with cattle, sheep and pigs. Based at Belmont, he would go racing with mates and it was with one of those that he decided to pack up and head on a trip around the country.

“We made it as far as Port Hedland, the car blew up and the cash ran out!”

Taking a job in the mining sector, Mike had friends who were keen to race a horse so, at the age of 19 (“I didn't know what I was doing!”), he took out his trainer's licence and had great times popping his horse on a cattle truck and heading to far flung tracks such as Marble Bar.

A highlight of that time was sitting around fires listening to station men talk about their experiences with horses - “They were just champion horsemen,” Becker said.

Mike was also playing football during this time and one of his team members was the editor at a local paper, offering him a few gigs writing sports articles. As it turned out, he was quite good at it and it led to work at other papers - leading to a position as a racing writer.

“I was in my element, back amongst racehorses and racing people.”

But it was the bloodstock side that really interested him and for a time Mike worked in the Perth office for ABCOS - during a period when “around 90 to a hundred buyers from Western Australia would head over to the Adelaide sales every year.”

Also working for Goodwood Bloodstock, Mike was in the office alongside Simon Vivian, Damon Gabbedy and Mark Pilkington... “Back in the days when all pedigree work was done by hand.”

Keen to pursue a career as a bloodstock agent, Mike decided to gain experience at ground level - he wanted to see how studs worked and so he headed to South Australia to work for the acclaimed Jim O’Connor.

“The plan was to learn about the stud side and then return to the bloodstock side but out of the blue Stockwell Stud was sold and I was offered the management position.

“Everyone knew about Stockwell Stud and its history - it was too good an offer to refuse.”

Unfortunately, it was a baptism of fire for Mike with an outbreak of viral abortion within just a few weeks of his arrival. And within just a few months a couple of the stud's owners had money issues... not an easy time.

Events that made it hard to get Stockwell's new stallion off the ground, the star galloper Our Poetic Prince denied his chance to make a viable start.

“Being such a great racehorse and such a good-looking horse, he had what was then a big book of well over a hundred mares,” Mike recalled. “But our farm became taboo and he ended up serving only 50 ordinary mares - and he never really recovered from that start.”

With Stockwell again on the market (secured by Emirates), Mike moved down the road to the Trescowthick family's property which was re-branded as The Independent Stallion Station - one of the first of its kind in the country.

“We stood up to eleven stallions at a time and at one stage they were covering 25 per cent of the Victorian mare base.

“We were well supported by owner/breeders but sadly that market is gone now,” Becker rued.

Fate would see Mike move back to Emirates which he was eventually able to re-name Stockwell Stud, appreciative of the Ken Cox-owned, George Smith run farm's history... standing the likes of Artie Schiller (USA), Al Maher, Brief Truce (USA) and Arazi (USA).

He has a fondness for each of those horses, proud to home Artie Schiller in his retirement - describing him as an exceptionally intelligent horse who had an uncanny ability to sense when mares were ready to be served (he would often refuse even when vets thought the mares were ready to go... and every one of those served by another stallion failed to get in foal).

Brief Truce and Arazi - who raced against each other at Royal Ascot in 1992 - enjoyed their twilight years at Stockwell, both living years beyond retirement with the latter receiving a regular supply of fan mail from overseas.

“He was not a great stallion though he did better as a broodmare sire,” Becker said. “But he was a champion and it was an honour to have him.”

Arriving from Switzerland having been banished from New South Wales when Australia's 16th leading sire, Brief Truce was not popular at first, Mike worried that with only eight mares booked that he “had pulled the wrong rein.”

But along came True Jewels and Diatribe, winners of that season's G1 Blue Diamond S. and G1 Caulfield Cup, and suddenly Brief Truce was one of Victoria's busiest stallions!

Gallery: Brief Truce's Group 1-winning progeny, images courtesy of Sportpix

“He was a character,” Becker said. “But no vices, he was all bluff! I didn't think he'd go before Arazi who had a heart murmur so loud you didn't need a vet to diagnose but he lived to 32 whilst Brief Truce died at 29.”

Both good ages, testament to Mike's care and attention.

Mr Greeley (USA) is the horse Mike looks back on with regret. Taken with the horse's power, pedigree (“I loved the Gone West sireline”) and performance, he was confident the horse would be a good fit for Victoria.

But local breeders were unconvinced and the handsome chestnut served only a small book, one which resulted in only 20 foals - one of those being the G1 Oakleigh Plate winner Miss Kournikova.

“He ended up standing for US$125,000,” Becker said of the horse well-represented by 64 stakes winners including a dozen Group 1 winners.

Mike has recently returned from a trip overseas where he was excited to attend Royal Ascot for the first time. And it was there that he learned a lesson that he'd love to see local racing authorities take on board.

“It is absolutely extraordinary to me that thousands of people will get dressed up, cram onto trains for an hour then walk a kilometre to the track... and do that five days running!”

Asking himself why they did, Mike realised the answer - “It's all about tradition. The same races run at the same time, year in, year out. Great racing, a great week... it was a thrill to be there.

“They are treasuring their racing history,” he added, unsure if that is happening here - citing the moving of the G1 Thousand Guineas to late November as a change that is unlikely to be for the better.

Meanwhile Mike, in semi-retirement as his son Brodie has taken over the Stockwell reins (concentrating on mares and shares in young stallions), is continuing to contribute - three years ago appointed to sit on the AgriFutures Thoroughbred Horses Advisory Panel.

Having also served on the TBV (eight years as president) and TBA boards, Mike is relishing this role - “It is a different perspective, being able to take note of the interesting studies taking place in regards to equine welfare and the improvement of the breed.”

Funded by all breeders via Stud Book levies along with federal government support, the panel has, says Becker “been a bit of a hidden secret - but it is starting to be promoted better.”

Whilst Mike wishes to see a re-emergence of the owner/breeder... “I'd love to see it be better known that you can breed a horse without spending huge amounts”... He is optimistic about the shape of racing and breeding in this country.

“The prizemoney levels and bonus schemes are great,” he said, also encouraged by a recent trend to again stand stallions with a bit of stamina.

Mike has plenty to look proudly back on and he is happy to still be in the thick of things, describing himself as “the man mowing the lawns and keeping an eye on the horses!”

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

Amid a storm of backlash pointed at Racing Victoria (RV) and its CEO Andrew Jones, after he revealed the governing body is keen to mic jockeys up under race conditions, similar to drivers in Formula 1, Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Michelle Payne has confirmed her desire to trial the idea.

Earlier this week, Jones said RV will look at introducing interactive jockey earpieces to communicate with trainers during a race in a bid to attract new participants to the sport.

“You’ve got to make racing as fan-friendly as possible and mics and earpieces are not new. So in Formula 1… everybody’s watched Drive to Survive. The cars weigh as much as horses, they’re going five times faster, 300 km/hr,” Jones said on Racing.com.

“That is a properly dangerous sport and they’re communicating with the pit crew all the time. Now, is that a direct analogy to racing?

“Well, we don't know. So if we were to introduce that, what we would do is we would test it.

“So we would test it with one rider doing track work, we would test it at a jump-out, we test it at a trial before we let it anywhere near a race.”

Jones was widely criticised, with several stakeholders saying it is simply too dangerous. Many also voiced their disappointment at not being consulted on this matter and several others by RV.

Payne, though, reckons it’s worth investigating.

“I’ve got no idea how it would work; I think it’s something you would have to trial with Racing Victoria and the jockeys,” she told RSN Racing & Sport on Thursday.

“Obviously, they’re going to have to do a lot of research into it before they go to raceday, but I think it’s a great idea to bring people at home into what we get to do each day and make it more exciting for them.

“The atmosphere of the hooves… if it’s a calm day, there’s nothing better than that sound. It would bring them to the theatre of racing, really.

“The other side of it is you can talk to them behind the barriers, say how your horse is feeling, what the plans are going to be. You’re not going to be giving away any secrets, you’re all behind the gates, the other jockeys won’t be able to hear you if it’s all worked out properly. Even just to have it behind the barriers, like the bowlers when they’re about to come in and bowl and they say what they’re aiming to do, I think it brings a different element to racing and might be a bit of fun.

“I just think it brings a different element and it might be something great for racing.”

Payne admitted that if it was to work, it would have to be conducted under the right conditions.

“If you were going to do it, you would definitely want to try it in a small field, as a bit of a race that has been put on for the public and see how it goes. You certainly couldn’t do it in a big race, you’ve got too much to think about and concentrate on, let alone somebody yelling in your ear,” Payne explained

“I think it would be entertaining, but like I said, you would have to do it in a small field, for safety reasons.

“I think we’ve got a fair way to go before we see it happen, but it will be interesting to see what they do.”

Symons has his say

Former jockey Chris Symons is no stranger when it comes to innovation. He, in 2019, in conjunction with Seven Racing, Telstra Broadcast Services, and the RV stewards, introduced ‘jockey cam’, which brought viewers closer to the action by putting them in the jockeys’ saddle during races.

Symons was also a crew member on the hit movie Ride Like A Girl, which depicted Payne’s historic 2015 Melbourne Cup win aboard Prince Of Penzance (NZ) (Pentire {GB}).

He believes there is some merit in Jones’ idea, but reckons it should look a little different to how it was presented.

“I’ll give Andrew Jones and Racing Victoria an A for effort,” Symons told RSN.

“I haven’t been privy to sit in on one of the consultation meetings, but I know what I’ve read in the media. There is room for live mics, but I don’t think it’s in a field of 12 at Caulfield on a Saturday. I think it could be used to try and educate that younger demographic that we’re trying to get in racing… to try and understand the sport.

“How I would see it working is, like Michelle said, behind the barriers - fantastic, post-race - even better, but I would even go as far as choreographing a race on a non-raceday, where you’ve got the top 10 jockeys with personality. You create a race and give explanation as to what is going on, what’s the thought process? I base that on what we did in the movie (Ride Like A Girl). We choreographed the Melbourne Cup on more than one occasion, we had multiple takes. Most of the jockeys in that choreographed race were mic’d up.”

Symons added that there is a second-and-a-half delay in telecommunications which “could prove detrimental”.

Regarding Jones’ F1 analogy, Symons said it was an “embarrassment”.

“To say F1 is a properly dangerous sport was an embarrassment… trying to compare the two. It’s not like driving a car, you’ve got your decisions to make, and you’ve got to make a decision for a horse that has got a mind of its own, not to mention there might be an apprentice around you that’s put themselves in a spot of bother, so you’re actually out there riding for other people as well.

“So, there’s more to it than driving a car and speaking hands-free.”

Jones hellbent on growing racing’s audience

An experienced sports administrator, Jones claims he is steadfast in his quest to improve racing in Victoria and isn’t bothered about putting a few noses out of joint along the way.

“I don’t do this for self-preservation I do this because my job, career and profession is doing strategy in sport and working out how to grow sports and I think our team has a very clear idea of how to grow racing and we just have to get that message across,” he said on SEN Track.

Jones reckons it would be a “huge mistake” to completely discount the idea.

“It’s a matter of degree and that’s why we’re talking to people and that’s why we’ll try anything before we do it in a race,” he commented.

“The huge mistake would be to shut the door and say, ‘This is a terrible idea and we shouldn’t do it’.

“A, that’s naïve, B, it means racing is lagging behind every other sport in the world and C, there might be a middle ground that really works.

“For example, when you watch a race you just see the horses coming around the turn and you don’t hear the sound of the hooves, the jockeys talking to each other, so even having a microphone carrying a microphone and not talking would be a step forward in the broadcast.

“Why wouldn’t we try those things?”