Why it's right more than ever before for racing to consider public perception

It matters what people think. It matters to racing what people outside of racing think. That has always been the case but is particularly relevant now.

There is a constituency within racing that seems to shudder at the mention of the words "public perception". Some would rail against the very notion that those charged with governing the sport, those who run racecourses and those connected to the horses who compete on those racecourses, should bother what the wider non-racing public feels about the sport. That blinkered, arrogant perspective could not be more wrong.

Trainer Charlie Fellowes could not have been more right when he used his latest blog posting to observe: "One of the main things at stake here is the perception of the sport – and people who don’t think the perception is important need their heads examined."