|
Le Frog could not quite believe what he read in the public address published last week by Spanish owner Anthony Forde following his failed attempt to see his French 1,000 Guineas winner Liliside finally placed 5th rather than 6th placing to which she was demoted. Forde did not ask for her laurels back. He simply wanted the France Galop stewards to agree that the filly should have been placed 5th rather than 6th for interfering only once in the final stretch, not twice as originally stated at Longchamp. A video proved that he was right to do so (check it on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1geeX_BZBA).
Everybody knows that the Appeal Commission of France Galop is a joke and that these guys never ever change whatever their fellow members of "The Club" have decided. "Right or wrong, my party", period.
However this time, one of the owners summoned at the appeal commission had added insult to injury by actually saying aloud to Forde’s party: "This is a game for aristocrats, it is not made for soup mongers".
Well if that isn't sheer class prejudice, what is? Even though the person in question is not actually a France Galop steward, he’s bred to become one of them. And by the way, if you only keep the horses owned by aristocrats in the French 1,000, only one belongs to a titled European. She finished 7th. Not exactly the champion’s party, is it?
This incident should not be blown out of proportions. Yet it should not be allowed to pass unremarked. Such ludicrous comments made by horseracing’s so-called "finest peers" remind me of J. B. Morton’s Oswald Thake – and this is not a compliment.
If only it had been said to a fellow Frenchman, able to share such a strange sense of humour, Le Frog wouldn’t mind that much. But to someone who spends money on our nation’s sport, promotes our races and pays our lads’ wages, well, a complete apology is the least the whole episode deserves.
It is therefore with a great sense of shame that Le Frog apologizes on behalf of this loon to every foreign participant to our races, whether they are "soup mongers" or Highnesses, for both are worth the same on and under the turf.
|
Comments