What is Tapeta?

Tapeta is a synthetic racing surface, akin to Polytrack, which consists of a trademarked mixture of silica sand, wax and rubber fibres laid to a depth of several inches above a tough, woven fabric membrane or a layer of asphalt. Tapeta is specifically designed to mimic the root structure of turf and, as such, produces a unbiased racing surface, which produces little or no kickback and copes well with wet weather.

Tapeta was the brainchild of Michael Dickinson – best known in Britain for saddling the first five finishers in the 1983 Cheltenham – who set about creating a kinder, more forgiving alternative to dirt on which to train his horses. He designed and laid the first version of Tapeta at his purpose-built Tapeta Farm in 1997 and, in 2005, formed Tapeta Footings Inc, which now has offices on both sides of the Atlantic.

Continued research and development has led to numerous iterations of Tapeta, which has been widely adopted by racecourses worldwide, including Wolverhampton, Newcastle and, most recently, Southwell in Britain. Martin Cruddace, Chief Executive of Arena Racing Company (ARC), which owns Southwell Racecourse, said that replacing the existing Fibresand surface with Tapeta represented ‘another significant step forward’.

Of the Derby and the Oaks, which is the older Classic?

Given the value of a Classic-winning colt to global racing and breeding powerhouses, such as Coolmore and Godolphin, it should come as no real surprise that, in recent years, the second fillies’ Classic, the Oaks, has been increasingly overshadowed by the Derby. The fact that the Derby is worth £1,125,000 in guaranteed prize money, whereas the Oaks is worth just £375,000, is indicative of their current standings.

However, far from being an afterthought, the Oaks is, in fact, the older – albeit only slightly – of the Epsom Classics. The Oaks was founded, in its current guise, by Edward Smith-Stanley, Twelfth Earl of Derby, in 1779 and named after his residence in nearby Carshalton. Smith-Stanley won the inaugural running of the Oaks and, during the subsequent celebration, he and Charles Bunbury, Chairman of the Jockey Club, came up with the idea for a similar race, open to colts and fillies, which they co-founded, as the Derby, in 1780. Until 1784, the Derby was run over the ‘last mile of the course’, before being extended to a mile and a half. It is worth noting that neither the Oaks nor the Derby were dubbed ‘Classics’ until shortly after the inaugural running of the 1,000 Guineas in 1814.

Where, and when, did Richard Johnson ride his first and last winners?

At the time of his shock retirement in April, 2021, Richard ‘Dicky’ Johnson had ridden 3,819 winners, a figure surpassed only by his great friend and rival Sir Anthony McCoy. Johnson rode his first winner, Rusty Bridge, trained by his mother, Susan, in a hunters’ chase at Hereford on April 30, 1994. He won the Conditional Jockeys’ Championship in 1995/96 and, over the next two decades, finished runner-up in the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship, behind McCoy, on no fewer than 16 occasions. McCoy retired in April, 2015 and Johnson finally emerged from his shadow to win the jockeys’ title four years running, in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Interestingly, on the day of his retirement, at Newton Abbot, Johnson gave up his last scheduled ride on the card, such that his last actual ride was Brother Tedd, on whom he’d won McCoy’s final race at Sandown Park six years previously. His last winner, though, was Camprond, fittingly trained by Philip Hobbs – to whom he had been first jockey since 1999 – in a maiden hurdle at Taunton on March 23, 2021. In his 27-year career, Johnson took over 20,000 rides.

How much money are jockeys paid?

How much money are jockeys paid? Notwithstanding lucrative contracts, or ‘retainers’, to ride for leading owners, such as Sheikh Mohammed or J.P. McManus, which can bolster earnings to hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of pounds a year, the vast majority of jockeys are self-employed. As such, they are not paid a fixed salary but, rather, on a ride-by-ride basis, with income stemming from riding fees, prize money and, if applicable, sponsorship.

Riding fees are negotiated annually by the Professional Jockeys’ Association (PJA) and the Rachorse Owners’ Association (ROA) and, as of April 1, 2022, stood at £142.90 and £194.63, respectively, for Flat and National Hunt jockeys. If a proposed mount is declared a non-runner after a jockey has been declared, that jockey receives 50% of the riding fee. Prize money is more complicated, but, according to the PJA, Flat jockeys typically receive 8.50% and 2.61%, respectively, of advertised win and place prize money, while National Hunt jockeys receive 11.03% and 3.44%, respectively.

Of course, jockeys’ earnings are subject to tax and a whole raft of deductions, including PJA, Weatherbys, agent and valet fees. Take-home pay varies widely but, on the whole, jockeys earn much less than other professional sportspeople, such as footballers, golfers and tennis players. An average jockey, under either code, can expect to earn in the region of £30,000 a year after tax and deductions, but an apprentice or conditional jockey could certainly earn less than half that amount.

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