There might not be an easier sport to go after the little man than horse racing but the fact the sport is populated by hundreds of little men means they will fight back every so often. As a channel that relies on cooperation from some of these jockeys, it’s not the best idea to go after the biggest amongst the little men. Racing UK seemed to think it was outside this jurisdiction – but how wrong they were.
When Tony McCoy’s not ringing all and sundry at the wheel of the car to tell them he won the Grand National, he can be found working his way round the British Horseracing circuit. Ascot is owned by the Crown Estate (aka the Queen) and as such isn’t the kind of place you would expect allegations of fixing to surface. Racing UK’s presenters, Lydia Hislop and Steve Mellish, made comments suggesting that he’d slowed the horse deliberately during an October meeting on the Queen’s grounds.
McCoy wrote the following on apmccoy.com: “That has never bothered me as I am my own biggest critic and always welcome criticism. It was the accusations made by two of their presenters who, in my opinion, were very persistent in insinuating I was allegedly cheating on Get Me Out Of Here. I have no problem being challenged but it was the nature in which they challenged and the impression they left in the viewers’ minds that I allegedly tried to stop this horse.”
The end result of all this is that McCoy will no longer be giving interviews to the channel. Maybe in future Racing UK should just accuse the horse itself of cheating. It may be farfetched but horses do have brains and it beats going after the little man repeatedly.
