On Tuesday we published an article concerning the result of the British Breeders Stakes at Nottingham, and a subsequent quote from Rob McNair. In that quote, that Rab insisted should be tagged onto his main piece, he was extremely critical of an article written in Monday’s Racing Post and authored by Jonathan Kay.
As Jonathan would be aware, as hard as we attempt to be as accurate as possible, any journalist must inevitably summarise any conversation when committing to keyboard. Although I always take contemporaneous notes, a 40 minute call will invariably result in a five minute documented conversation. In view of this, and the volatility of the topic, I asked Rab to verify that what I had reported was an accurate summary of his views. His response was “It was very good, but not strong enough”
It should be noted that these were direct quotes, and while I agree with the vast majority of Rab’s views, I did not attempt to influence or add to the sentiments of the article. No ‘cheap shot’ was taken. Nor did I feel any score needs to be settled (see below). Our views on greyhound racing, and journalism are very different. I do not have a high opinion of RPGTV, though I am surely entitled to that view. What I do respect, is Jonathan’s commitment to independent thought and a willingness to challenge ‘mob thinking’ when it is necessary.
All that said, I do consider Rab a friend and had no good reason not to publish his views. In fact, I believe he would be entitled to take issue had I attempted to censor him. I believe he previously insisted that RPGTV broadcast comments that they didn’t like, but subsequently agreed to show.
As a greyhound journalist of 34 years, I understand better than most, that those of us who choose to preach our opinions, must be prepared to be expect flak (NOT abuse) for airing them. However, given the personal nature of the subject matter, at the conclusion of the article, I offered Jonathan a full right to respond to Rab’s views. I am pleased to say that he has taken the opportunity to do so. That response is published below – in full.
I will conclude by noting that – not for the first time in recent weeks – Jonathan’s views appear to be at odds with much of the greyhound industry. At least that seems to be the case if social media is any barometer of industry opinion.
Floyd Amphlett – Editor
JONATHAN KAY RESPONSE:
The first, and by far the most important, thing to address is the awful misfortune Rab McNair and the KSS Syndicate suffered at Nottingham on Monday.
Losing any dog in any circumstances is hard, losing a home-bred at a track where two weeks earlier your star bitch Queen Jessiej suffered a career-ending injury and where there have been as many horrible lows for the kennel as there have glorious highs is something I cannot begin to imagine, or how it makes you react.
I respect Rab’s right to hold whatever opinion of me that wishes, but I was shocked by the editorial decision to link it to the death of a greyhound.
I have worked for Floyd in the past and, indeed, he reached out with support when he felt it would be helpful to me but it’s fair to say that we have seen eye-to-eye less and less in recent years.
Reasons for that would be many but mainly centre around our contrasting views of the value of RPGTV to greyhound racing following a series of editorials I feel were designed to stir up bitterness and rancour and which, in my clearly biased opinion, were unfair at best and downright nasty at worst.
I bring this up as context to why he thought it was appropriate to publish Rab’s quotes first and offer the right of reply later given the explosive reaction he must have known they would generate.
Of course, there was a Twitter pile-on although it could have been much worse, but I was also pleased to receive a number of genuine messages of support.
In reflecting whether I should respond to what I consider an ill-judged and score-settling cheap shot by Floyd, one thing led me to write this missive.
Namely, what did I actually say in the Monday column in the Racing Post this week that was so wrong?
I did not, as it has been claimed, say I had no problem with the Arc/Entain deal but instead responded to Floyd’s own editorial saying he wouldn’t want to be breeding a dog with the 2024 Derby in mind.
I challenged by asking where was the evidence that open-racing was doomed given that Arc and Entain have advertised a record 26 Category Ones between them this year.
And by saying it was a good opportunity for the GBGB to look for a multi-year Derby deal, I’m really not sure how that could be seen as a dig at Towcester. Surely even more so now than ever, stability is what is required and if Towcester gets three or five years on top of the 2021 agreement then fantastic.
In in the interests of balance, I offer Floyd the chance to publish my Monday column. Challenge me on what I write, not what you think I meant.
