The turf | 6 July 2017

Having spent three quarters of my life covering politics and the other quarter following racing, I am often asked what the two have in common. One answer is that politicians are often gamblers. David Cameron tried to solve his party’s divisions over Europe by launching the Brexit referendum and failed spectacularly when an irritated electorate overturned the odds. Despite having a workable majority, Theresa May bet the Tory farm on a snap election seeking to increase it and she, too, lost on an apparent certainty. Playing party political games with the nation’s future, neither deserved any better. Certainly, I find few in racing who believe that Brexit, especially May’s beloved ‘hard Brexit’, is going to help them. Racing’s continual staffing crisis has been eased a little of late by the number of Europeans taking jobs in UK training establishments: if, with the looming end of free movement, European stable staff follow EU nurses and head elsewhere, many yards will be scratching around desperately for grooms and work riders.