While the Jockey Club did not necessarily intend the policy changes last week to contain the 'Dream Team' of John Size and Douglas Whyte, it is a natural presumption that putting their working relationship back into a stricter trainer-club jockey context at least gives them something to think about.
The difference between Whyte and Size combining in their current fashion or falling in with the new policy percentages amounts to only 30-40 rides a year, just a few every month, on average.
And that is the hidden key to managing the situation - we are dealing with percentages over a season rather than every week or month and the trade-off might have to be that Whyte gives up some of the foundation racing with horses early in their preparations, having their first or second starts before they are ready to fire.
It isn't the first time the matter has been brought up and it isn't just to put a handbrake on successful players.
In the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons, when both the Size-Shane Dye and Tony Cruz-Felix Coetzee percentages came under scrutiny, they were higher than any combination now.
Dye was riding over 70 per cent of Size's runners, while Coetzee was on Cruz's horses more than 80 per cent of the time in 2002-03, and it was suggested that both teams should formalise retainerships or ease off.
When a jockey is retained and paid for by the owners in a stable, it's fair enough that stable gets to monopolise his services, but the Jockey Club, rightly, feels it is being roughly handled when a jockey with accommodation and other expenses met by the club is only there for the benefit of a particular bunch of owners.
