That’s what Oliver Twist said to the Beadle…. and it didn’t work! And that’s what the Victorian Jockeys Association is saying to Racing Victoria – with about as much success, at least so far.

But what is the factual situation?

The current agreement under which jockeys are paid expires today, 31 July. That agreement pays Victorian jockeys $200 a race ride, plus 5% of prize money. In other states, the race ride fee is lower – $185 in South Australia, $181.30 in Western Australia (trust the Sandgropers to have something weird), $180 in Queensland and $167 in Tasmania. But the operative words are “race ride” – unless an individual jockey comes to some arrangement with an individual trainer, track work rides, trials and jump outs are “freebies” that jockeys do in the hope of snagging the race rides. What the jockeys are saying is that this situation isn’t fair, and the Jockeys Association is basing their case for a lift in the race ride fee on the need for this unpaid work to be compensated in some way.

But racing people, like in any other industry where all of the participants are chasing their own bite of the finite cake, can be unsympathetic to the wishes and wants of sections of the industry other than their own. So, the trainers don’t want to pay for trackwork rides, and Racing Victoria doesn’t want the obligations that go along with paying riders for any work other than on race days. So it’s a dilemma for the riders. Do they skip unpaid trackwork and jeopardise their chances of paid race rides? Or do they continue the status quo and rely solely on race rides for their income?

There are other issues to consider. This season, there will be a 37% increase in the number of twilight and night meetings in Victoria. Should not jockeys receive a premium for night work?

There is also the complication around a particular jockey’s status in the industry. Country jockeys, for example, rack up many, many more driving kilometres than their top city counterparts. All that petrol money has to come out of the same pocket that holds their riding fees and percentages. Is that fair?

And, at least in theory, a 3 kg claiming apprentice is entitled to the same riding fee as Craig Williams and Damien Oliver. Is that fair and equitable?

Too many questions, and too many inequities, for the problem to be addressed simply by a rise in the riding fee – there really needs to be some clear thinking brought into play.

There’s another angle, too. Some trainers have come out swinging, and blasting the jockeys request on the basis that the increases in prize money announced in Victoria, $12.4 million in the coming season, give the jockeys the opportunity to earn more, anyway. Well, sometimes a sign of intelligence is simply keeping your mouth shut. The outspoken trainers are well aware that $5 million of that increase is allocated to just three races – the Melbourne and Caulfield Cups and the Cox Plate. Simple mathematics gives the fact that the other 4,400 races in the season will carry an increase of just $85.00 – and that relates to an increase in the jockey’s winning percentage of a massive $4.25! Don’t spend it all in one place!

One trainer was silly enough to make the comment that a glance at the cars in the Flemington jockeys car park was enough to show anyone that the riders didn’t need an increase. Has he looked around the trainers’ car park lately?  Is he driving a Toyota Yaris? When was the last time he raced a horse at Camperdown or Tatura? Talk about fatuous and facile, let alone unhelpful!

The argument has also been put that the top jockeys earn cartloads, so a riding fee increase isn’t warranted. That is simply stupid. It’s like saying that the guy running the small business down the road doesn’t need more revenue because BHP makes big bucks.

So, it’s time for less rhetoric and more cool heads. This is a problem that needs a solution, but, as happens in too many sports administration issues in many sports in Australia, the real danger is that the vested interests look like making a solution difficult. There is no quick and easy fix. The jockey payment model is busted. Perhaps it’s time for a properly negotiated agreement that recognises that one size just doesn’t fit all.

Come on Racing Victoria, time for some leadership – or is that too much to ask for?