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In short, a jockey is said to be ‘jocked off’ if he or she loses the booking on a horse that he or she has previously ridden regularly, usually, but not always, at the behest of an influential owner. Of course, owners have every right to request the booking of whomsoever they want to ride their horses, so the replacement of one jockey by another is fairly commonplace. Nevertheless, ‘jocking off’ does occasionally become a talking point, particularly when a lesser-known jockey is replaced by a higher-profile weighing room colleague in the build-up up to a prestigious race, such as the Derby.

Indeed, 2024 Derby provided a prime example of contentious jocking off. Callum Shepherd, who had ridden Ambiente Friendly, owned by the Gredley Family, on both previous starts, including an impressive, 4½-length win in the Lingfield Derby Trial, was unceremoniously replaced by Robert Havlin just three days before the Epsom Classic. Instead of providing Shepherd with what would have been his first Derby ride, joint-owner Tim Gredley said that he and his father, Bill, had opted for ‘more experience on the day’, in the form of Havlin.

Of course, jockeys losing high-profile, potentially lucrative rides is nothing new. The late, great Lester Piggott was a fine exponent of jocking off and, on once famous occasion, convinced owner Ivan Allan that he should replace Darrel McHargue on Commanche Run, trained by Luca Cumani, in the 1984 St. Leger. Sent off 7/4 favourite, Commanche Run duly obliged, thereby making Piggott the most successful jockey in the history of British Classic races.

Like any competitive activity – or, indeed, any activity – involving animals, horse racing exposes its participants, equine and human alike, to the risk of injury and, occasionally, traumatic injury and death. However, despite public perception, horses can, in fact, be surprisingly fragile animals and, as such, are susceptible to injury regardless of their line of work. Indeed, according to a study published in the Equine Veterinary Journal, which assessed the frequency of injuries in the general horse population Britain, horses are nearly five times more likely to sustain traumatic injury when turned out in a field than during ridden exercise.

Furthermore, figures from the governing body, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), suggest that, in the first decade-and-a-half of the twenty-first century, equine fatalities on British racecourses occurred at a rate of 0.2%. Based on a horses-in-training population of 14,000, which accounts for over 90,000 ruuners a year, on average, boils down to approximately 180 racecourse deaths per annum.

The level of inherent risk to participants in horse racing is very low and despite accusations of ‘ignorance, apathy and callousness’ levelled at trainers, jockeys, owners, racecourses and veterinarians, horses do receive the highest standards of care, as demanded by the governing body. The BHA fully acknowleges the risks involved, particularly in National Hunt racing and is fully committed to reducing those risks for both horses and jockeys. British racing, as a whole, has invested millions of pounds in veterinary research, via the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB), and racecourses employ a team qualified, experienced veterinarians, doctors and paramedics to provide immediate attention in the event of any on-course incident.

Said to be ‘The Sport of Kings’, horse racing can be a lucrative business for those operating at the very top, but, regardless of the ‘code’ of racing (Flat or National Hunt), jockeys’ earnings from prize money vary widely. Of course, a handful of top jockeys have contracts, or ‘retainers’, to ride for individual owners ot trainers. Current British Champion Flat Jockey William Buick, for example, is retained by Goldolphin, while his predecessor, Oisin Murphy, is retained by Qatar Racing.

However, the vast majority of jockeys are self-employed and, as such, rely on a flat-rate riding fee, for each mount they take, and a percentage of any prize-money they win to earn a living. Riding fees are negotiated between the Professional Jockeys’ Association (PJA) and the Racehorse Owners’ Association (ROA) and, at the time of writing, currently stand at £162.79 and £221.28, per ride, for Flat and National Hunt jockeys respectively. Prize-money percentages range from 6.9% for the former to 8.5% or 9% for the latter, depending on the race in question.

Thus, top jockeys earn more money not by charging more, but rather by riding more often – and, typically, more successfully, at a higher level – than the rank and file of the weighing room. Obviously, jockeys’ earnings are subject to deductions, such as agent, valet and PJA fees, among others, expenses, not least travelling expenses, and taxation. On average, though, according to the ‘Racing Post’, Flat jockeys earn £27,800, gross, per annum, while National Hunt jockeys earn £20,500.

In horse racing parlance, the ‘going’ is the description of the underfoot conditions or, in other words, the state of the ground on a certain racecourse. It is measured by the Clerk of the Course, using a device known as a ‘GoingStick’, the tip of which is pushed into the ground to provide an objective, numerical reading of the moisture content and, hence, the firmness of the going.

Depending on the GoingStick reading, the going is described by a number of terms, ranging from ‘firm’, which is the driest, fastest ground, often experienced in summer during the Flat season, to ‘heavy’, which is the wettest, slowest ground, often experienced in winter during the National Hunt season. On synthetic, all-weather racing surfaces, the going may variously be described as ‘fast’, ‘standard’ or ‘slow’ depending on the moisture content of the surface.

Like human athletes, horses have their own range of requirements. Some, but not all, may be capable of reproducing their best form on any going, but more often they prefer one type of going to another. The going is a crucial variable, which often determines where and when connections decide to run their horses in the first place, and how they perform when they do make it to the racecourse. Thus, from a punting perspective, it is equally important to determine, by reference to the formbook, that a horse is capable of acting on the prevailing going. Indeed, along with fitness and the distance of the race being contested, the going is one of the most important factors to consider when attempting to determine the likely outcome.