Jockey and Derby initiatives share laudable ambition of trying to better promote the sport

The creation of an ambitious global jockeys' league represents racing's latest attempt to raise the profile of its biggest names and use them as vehicles to promote the sport.

It was revealed on Monday that 12 of the leading riders on the Flat, including Frankie Dettori, Ryan Moore and William Buick, have made a firm commitment to compete in ten events globally. They will be shareholders in the league and commercial partners are being sought with the aim of securing a total prize fund of $15 million within two years.

One of the problems racing faces is that everybody recognises the difficulties hampering the sport and the need for change, particularly given the perilous state of British racing's finances, but new initiatives are often shot down before being given a fair chance to succeed, so the fact the jockeys have already bought into the concept is fairly promising.