Female jockey Saffie Osborne stands out in a sea of the bland - Sarah Todd
Mentioning the odd little flutter on the horses is probably enough to get arrested by the fun police these days. A week ago today this very newspaper mentioned how young female jockey Saffie Osborne had unexpectedly picked up a ride in the 250th running of the world’s oldest classic flat race, the St Leger at Doncaster.
The fact that she is an honorary Yorkshire lass (once removed as she was born near the southern racing centre of Lambourn but her father, former jockey Jamie, grew up in Wetherby) got the rusty brain cogs whirring.
Stubbornly not believing in online gambling, the intended bet on her 11-1 chance Highwayman never got put on. The Son was leaving home for a new job and somehow the packing of the proverbial kitchen sink meant the metropolis of our local market town and the threshold of its only remaining bookmakers never got stepped over.
Highwayman did more than stand and deliver, he galloped his way past the winning post to put young Miss Osborne into the history books as the first female jockey to win one of British Flat racing's five Classics.
Her beaming face was picture perfect and more than made up for this poor punter not getting her few pounds on.
In our world of the bland so often leading the bland, especially in the field of education and careers, it was absolutely fabulous to see a young lady doing something out of the ordinary. All the sweeter to learn that she honed her skills just down the road from the turf of this historic win at the National Horseracing College in Doncaster. As an aside, the fact she surely could have gone to nearer Newmarket, but chose up north, must be a feather in this particular establishment’s riding cap.
Decade after decade your correspondent has banged the drum about the lack of inspiring role models for the young, in particular girls.
In a sea of tangerine tans, teeth and - well, physical enhancements in the chest area - it was such a joy to see a natural-looking girl (no hair extensions weighed down Saffie’s blonde ponytail) succeeding through her own hard-grafted-for talent. Yes, she will have had leg ups in a world where being part of the establishment must help, but nobody gets to that level without being an incredible athlete in their own right.
While daft degrees that achieve nothing but debt need to be chased out of town (apologies for poor Highwayman pun) it is worrying how our new Prime Minister and his cronies - who mostly seem to have experience of cushy public service jobs - are on a mission to push everyone into some boring apprenticeship or other.
Goodness, anything that can be done to steer youngsters into good, honest trades like becoming plumbers and electricians is to be applauded. The fact that the last lot in power became obsessed about them having good maths and English qualifications to be able to even get the tip of a steel toe-capped boot through the building site gate is an absolute scandal. Snuffing out any enthusiasm, pushing them onto the scrapheap before their working lives had even started.
But back to the point, while our new Government is channelling billions of pounds into creating new apprenticeships, some of the areas, such as blessed artificial intelligence (AI) and digital media, send shivers of depressing dullness down the spine.
While pointing school leavers towards areas in need of workers, parents must make sure that potential and ambition aren’t left behind in the starting stalls.
Our next generation, in particular girls and white working-class boys, need to be allowed bigger dreams than their postcode might automatically provide.
Personally speaking, the workings of AI haven’t been taken any notice of. But a cursory look and it’s frightening how many people’s jobs they are already doing.
The gentleman who illustrated the ever-popular children’s rhyming story, The Gruffalo, recently spoke out about how images now churned out (without the need of an artist) by this modern monster of artificial intelligence are taking over.
Rather than using their imagination and developing artistic skills, Scheffler says children can now simply type a description of what they want to create into a computer keyboard or mobile phone. So sad to think of rainy afternoons with coloured pencils and paints coming up with some sketches that now look likely to be sacrificed at the altar of technological advancement. Same goes for words…
Those of us with shorthand, touch typing and shoe leather worn out by talking to real people and learning the art of telling a story don’t look long for this world.
Best start remembering to put those bets on.