Jockeys are seldom commended for any winning ride, while the majority of the time they are blamed for beaten ones, even though most beaten horses have valid reasons for defeat, i.e. better rivals, ground conditions, among countless other plausible justifications.

The next time you go racing make sure you observe the 2-year-olds being taken down to post by the jockeys, and just appreciate the skill involved in that. These young horses are live wires, frequently they freak out, it’s up to the jockey on-board to calm the situation.

Another aspect of being a jockey is that unlike almost any other sport making a mistake can result in being suspended for numerous days.

I can never quite comprehend the argument that some mistakes should be heavily punished because it is argued the ‘poor punter’, however, these errors are also significance in the lucky punter in some cases.

If football were to impose the same sort of bans as jockeys receive for errors, we certainly wouldn’t see Loris Karius “The Liverpool FC keeper” again, after preposterous errors he made in this year’s champions league final.

Jockeys don’t receive enough money for the endurance they have to put in throughout their careers. The money is visibly in the kitty however the authorities aren’t eager on giving it out.

Every professional jockey should be given a base rate of money from the regulatory bodies, it should be worked on from the previous year’s prize money and rides to ensure they have adequate money to live on.

There are countless jockeys presently in Ireland struggling to make ends meet, the powers to be are just overlooking this issue completely.

Jockeys are professional athletes, it’s time they got salaried like all other sporting figures, instead of paying the big bonuses to the fat cats at HQ.