Sanders refuses outside rides at Wolverhampton
(by Paul Eacott of www.racingpost.co.uk, 22 August 2005)
SEB SANDERS could encounter the wrath of his colleagues in the weighing room after the championship-chasing jockey decided to breach the riders' boycott of Monday’s Wolverhampton meeting - despite giving his backing to RaceTech's redundancy-threatened stalls handlers.
Sanders is by far the most high-profile jockey who will ride at Monday evening's meeting, with other senior jockeys electing to snub the fixture in protest at the introduction of a new team of stalls handlers by Arena Leisure, who own Dunstall Park.
Sanders travels to the midlands track to ride the Sir Mark Prescott-trained Outlook in the opening race, having agreed to honour his commitments to both Prescott and the Osborne House syndicate, owners of Outlook.
"I'm a big supporter of the stalls handlers and the job they do, but at the end of the day I have a contract with Sir Mark, so it's my job to go there," said Sanders.
Prescott, who has provided Sanders with 20 of his 104 winners this season, added: "My owners retain Seb, so Seb has to ride mine. If theowners had decided they didn't want to run at the meeting, then Seb would not have had to go.
"But it is the best opportunity for the horse and as they wanted to run and Seb is retained by them, he has to ride - it's as simple as that."
Keith Bradley, Sanders's agent, confirmed that he had received numerous approaches from trainers wanting to use Sanders at the fixture, but had to reject them all at the jockey's request.
He said: "Seb instructed me not to take any outside rides, and I must have turned down about 30 offers. With Seb trying to catch Jamie Spencer, we would have preferred to have had six rides rather than one, but Seb was happy to go there and ride for Sir Mark, although he did not want to take any outside rides."
John Blake, chief executive of the Jockeys' Association, believes the lack of established riders sends a clear message to Arena.
Blake said: "I anticipated that apprentices would be required to ride, but I have been called by a number of trainers who haven't declared their horses in support of the jockeys and stalls handlers.
"We didn't expect the meeting to completely fall because the owners and trainers, although fully aware of the issues, want the opportunity to run. It may be that some trainers are under pressure from owners.
"I expected there to be some who were required to ride, and neither I nor my members would criticise them.
"I don't see the meeting going ahead as a failure on our part. The boycott has highlighted the issues, and now they are receiving the kind of attention and debate they deserve."
Ian Renton, Arena's director of racing, is keen to maintain dialogue with not only the Jockeys' Association, but also with RaceTech in order to prevent arecurrence of Monday’s boycott on September 3, when Wolverhampton next intend to use Arena's stalls handlers.
"I anticipate there will be a meeting with all parties in the next week or so, and we will be doing our best to resolve the situation," he said. "I am confident there is an end in sight and we are happy things are progressing."