The turf
The rise and rise of the agent
Robin Oakley
Some say Mattie Cowing's job as Frankie Dettori's agent is a bit like having a money tree in the garden which you can go out and shake every once in a while. Ten per cent of the jockey's ten per cent of the kind of prize money that Dettori wins would certainly keep the sherry on the sideboard. But it is harder work than it looks, and it is not just a matter of fielding the calls from trainers and accepting the best offer.
As Cowing puts it laconically, 'My phone bills are still pretty big.' Dettori, he says, is lucky to have plenty of rides assured from his regular employers like John Gosden and Godolphin. 'But it's up to me to find the bread and butter.' That means calls in and calls out from pre-breakfast hours until late. When the newspaper arrives at 7 a.m. he cuts out the 'five-day decs' (the lists of horses entered to run five days later). He checks for entries from Dettori's retaining stables which he will be expected to ride and then prepares to fill the gaps, a process which involves some hours hunched over computer statistics and form books before the canvassing calls.
Dettori does not come to him with rides he would fancy but leaves it to his trusted agent. 'We have an agreement: I book them and he rides them,' says Mattie. But that creates its own pressure. In the small world of racing there would soon be talk if he was booking the wrong ones. And does it ever involve getting his man off a horse for which he has been promised when a better prospect comes along? 'Oh, no, I don't like doing that. There may have been a couple of times in my career when I've been a bit naughty. You've got to do the best you can for your man. But once we take a ride we're 90 per cent committed. It's a gentleman's agreement.' Just occa- sionally, though, Gosden or Godolphin might change their minds after first intend- ing to miss a race, and then some unscram- bling has to be done, usually with the understanding of the other trainers con- cerned.
Telephone reception is not at its best in the sauna, nor is it always easy to take calls when you are prone on the physio's table being treated for the jumps and bumps that go with a jockey's trade. It can be hard to reach for the mobile when you are out on the gallops seeking to measure the poten- tial of a fractious three-year-old that is seeking to cart you from Lambourn to Wantage. Jockeys are men, and women, on the move, riding work, steaming up motor- ways between courses when they are not actually competing, and trainers seeking the best pair of hands to guide their next winner home need to be able to establish contact and commitments. Hence the rise and rise of the jockey's agent. Nowadays, anyone who even hopes to be someone has an agent.
Over the sticks Dave Roberts is the agent supreme, acting for the likes of Adri- an Maguire, Norman Williamson and Tony McCoy. Rivals say that he dominates the scene, particularly at this time of year when fields are small and rides hard to come by. You could fill an entire race-card without employing a jockey who wasn't represented by the friendly and accessible Roberts. He does not always have to ring the trainers these days, they will ring him to see whom he has available. So how does he decide which of his team to offer to a trainer?
Although his jockeys all get on well with each other, he says that he never makes the choice. He simply tells the trainer whom he has available. 'If, say, it was a chase at Fontwell and a trainer rang with a horse on which both Adrian and Norman had won I would leave it to him.' He is, incidentally, convinced that when the full horse-power of the David Nicholson team gets to the racecourse then Maguire will be challeng- ing again for the jockey's title. 'It would be the biggest travesty in racing history if he didn't become champion sometime.'
There are worries, notably among the lesser-known names in the saddle, that the rise of agents like Dave Roberts has cramped their opportunities of making a living. Efficient agents are now hoovering up so many potential winners for the top stars that the others are left with thin pick ings, the horses with a string of duck eggs in front of their names at best and the semi-suicidal FFRF (FFRF) at worst.
Dave Roberts shrugs off the problem, pointing out that owners and trainers want the best available for their horses and that the agents are making the best available. `People can't be forced into employing jockeys.' And he does have on his books some lesser lights as well as the would-be champion jockeys.
But there are, fortunately, agents who do cater for the temporarily less glamorous riders. Just starting out as probably the only female jockeys' agent is the bubbly Sarah Gandolfo, daughter of trainer David. Agents are vital, she says, because both sides of the training/riding equation need somebody permanently available with an answer. She is aiming to build up the strength of her team which currently includes the best woman rider Sophie Mitchell, Denis Leahy and the 3 lb-claimer Dan Fortt, who came back into racing last season after a spell outside the game and booted home eight winners from some 50 rides. She also represents the underrated Guy Upton, who rode 23 winners last sea- son. As stable jockey to Jim Old, whose operations this season have been badly set back by that horrific fire, Upton can do with a boost. It will be interesting to see what a woman's touch can achieve.
Robin Oakley is political editor of the BBC.
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