'They're chucking money away' - Andrew Mullen hits out at Ayr fixture scheduling

Jockey Andrew Mullen has hit out over a perceived lack of understanding among fixture list planners that has led to two meetings at Ayr being staged across three days rather than back-to-back.

Ayr hosts an evening meeting on Saturday, with the last race due off at 8.30pm, before holding an afternoon fixture on Monday, while racing takes place at Haydock, Windsor and Leicester on Sunday.

Mullen, who expects to be riding at both Ayr meetings and potentially on Sunday, said the failure to make the fixtures back-to-back was costing the sport money, resulting in unnecessary travel for participants and negatively contributing to what is already “a mentally and physically straining job”.

He said: “It’s annoying. It’s costing everyone a lot of money and a lot of time going to one place on a Saturday night, somewhere else the next day and then back again on the Monday. I can’t imagine how much it costs the BHA in expenses – they’re chucking money away.

“We’re busy doing a lot of meetings at this time of year and it’s the summer holidays as well, so for those of us with a family it’s really frustrating.”

He added: “They’ve done a lot of good work over the last couple of years but I don’t think they understand what jockeys, and others, are going through with this travel. They're just sat in an office saying, ‘this will work here, this will go there’ and not appreciating what we do as much as they could.

“It’s a mentally and physically straining job, so we need help with these things and some common sense.”

Dale Gibson, executive director (racing) at the Professional Jockeys Association, stressed it was not just riders being impacted and that racecourses needed to be willing to be flexible over fixtures.

“To the naked eye it just seems really odd,” he said. “It’s not just jockeys, it’s everyone in the sport who works on a raceday — trainers, stable staff, valets, BHA staff, box drivers — all going through this unnecessary travel," he said.

“It also comes right in the middle of a period when riders haven’t had a break since May and won’t have one until October. It has to be in the best interests of everyone to sort this out.”

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