In what appears to be somewhat of an innovative twist to horse racing, there has been a recent proposal to form an International Jockeys League (IJL) and I will be following this with interest.
From what I can imagine, it sounds almost comparable to the proposed ‘Super League’ in football which was quickly quashed, however it seems that this should give every jockey global exposure.
Although at the moment this is still very much in the early phases, it appears that Frankie Dettori is a fan already – arguably the most famous flat jockey of the last 30 years.
I know he has been in the news quite a bit lately, for not particularly positive reasons for him, though he has been earmarked to take part. His astonishing longevity has (despite the 54-year-old stopping riding in the UK in 2023), seen him continue his career in the US.
Other elite riders that seemingly have been approached include James McDonald, Joao Moreira and Christophe Lemaire, Mickael Barzalona, Yutaka Take, Irad Ortiz Jr, Flavien Prat, Zac Purton and Vincent Ho, which would make a fascinating mix of nationalities.
How Would The Concept Work?
While this is still obviously very early days and the details need to be ironed out, the rough plan seems to be that it would mean races would take part all over the world in a very similar way to Formula 1 which has essentially become a global commodity.
At the minute, I’m not sure how this could go in terms of it being a success or not, though I think the ‘powers that be’ will have plans to eventually build this to a similar level to Formula 1.
You can certainly draw comparisons, I mean, most drivers in the sport now, are basically their own brand – Lewis Hamilton for one, with many of them landing multiple sponsorship deals.
The timing probably couldn’t be better for Detorri either, who had to recently file for bankruptcy, as alluded to above and could well be a great chance to build back up again, which is certainly possible.
While horse racing is popular in a few countries around the world, the hope is to build further awareness in those that don’t. There would obviously also be a league, where jockeys score points based on how they perform in each race, then you would think a considerable amount of prize money, especially if the concept gets the interest of major sponsors.
While at the minute, there is a long way to go, it could well be that this is the beginning of dynasty that lasts a long time.