Never forget the real heroes of racing

An abridged version of this opinion piece was published in the Herald Sun.

Beyond the glamour of the Spring Racing carnival, beyond the festivities, the fashions on the field and sparkling wine, there's a big problem with racing in this country. The real heroes of racing have been forgotten - the jockeys.

In racing, money is splashed around. On horses, advertising, and of course gambling. Racing Victoria statistics show the spring carnival turns over more than $240 million. The fashion industry gets a multi-million dollar boost, TabCorp and bookmakers take their share of the $50 million gambled on Cup day alone, and yet there's no money to be found in the industry when jockeys retire.

Jockeys get a raw deal. Job security is virtually non-existent. A fall can end a jockey's career in a blink. And even when they are working regularly jockeys are denied the basic conditions most other Australian workers enjoy such as superannuation and long service leave. The racing industry hides behind the legal fiction that every jockey is a small business, so that it can sidestep the responsibility of paying jockeys superannuation and other entitlements.

Only an elite few in the industry become household names and earn enough to sustain them in retirement. Even then, racing greats such as Jim Pike who rode Phar Lap, and Melbourne Cup winners such as Bill Fellows (1949 winner) and Vic Hartney (1943), retired to a life of poverty because they had no savings or plan for retirement. An industry-funded pension scheme is needed.

What adds to the Australian Workers' Union's frustration over this injustice of denying jockeys superannuation, is that the industry regulates so many aspects of a jockey's employment such as clothing, equipment, licensing and competition insurance, yet ducks its responsibility when it comes to long service leave and a financially-secure retirement.

This is why we are calling on the Australian racing industry to invest five per cent of the money it makes from advertising and naming rights, into a jockey pension fund.
It's not a radical proposal. AFL footballers, Australian cricketers and Australian Rugby League players are among the athletes whose sport gives something back to its athletes by contributing to a retirement scheme.

A report released by the Bracks Government earlier this month revealed the tough reality retired and injured jockeys face. The study found 60 per cent of the 200 jockeys surveyed had suffered financial hardship when they retired. For 70 per cent of them, retirement came out of the blue because of injury, weight problems or lack of rides. The great majority had no financial plan. In retirement one in five suffered depression trying to deal with their financial problems and social isolation from the sport they grew up in, which began when they left school early to take on an apprenticeship. For some, life after racing, which can happen by their mid-thirties, is too much. The report found three jockeys had taken their own lives in the past 18 months.

But there is an answer to some of these problems. Let's give jockeys back some certainty in their lives. By contributing five per cent of the media and advertising revenue, the Australian racing industry can give jockeys what other workers in this country have, a little financial security and dignity when they retire.