The greatest race meeting in the world
ROYAL ASCOT 2008
55BEHINDEVERYRACINGresult, there is an unheralded
group of officials without whose efforts the great
sport of racing would simply not exist. One member
of this team is Derrick Blake, who has been plying
his trade as a Clerk of the Scales for the last 18 years.
8220I8217ve always been interested in horseracing
8211 we8217ve had broodmares in the past and before
I started this job, I had a horse in training with
Richard Lee,8221 says Blake. 8220I saw an advertisement
in
The Sporting Life
for a part-time Clerk of the Scales
and I thought that it was an opportunity to work
for the rest of my life doing something that I really
wanted to do. The ideal was to go racing and get
paid for it and this is the ideal job.8221
Blake, who lives not far from Cheltenham
and travels to racecourses all around the country,
explains what a raceday for him is all about: 8220The
main responsibility is to weigh the riders out before
the race and weigh them back in afterwards to make
sure they have carried at least the correct weight
throughout the race.
8220I8217m the last person the rider sees before they go
out to the parade ring to mount, so if there is an error
in the weights, it is my responsibility to find that before
the race starts. For an owner to win a race and lose it
on a technicality would be a nightmare so all we8217re
doing is checking, checking and checking again.8221
Tales of jockeys attempting to hoodwink the clerk
abound in racing history, but Blake has established
a firm but fair reputation with the riding fraternity
because of his great experience. 8220I must admit the first
time that I did a training day, I was shown the 8216coat-
hanger trick8217 8211 I won8217t go into it, but it frightened me
to death!8221 he remembers. 8220There was potential to try
weighing out with modified body protectors, but now
the rules have tightened up. We allow them 2lb for a
body protector. In the past, the jockeys could have
adapted them so they didn8217t weigh 2lb, but perhaps10141Weight
ofexpectationThe Clerk of the
Scales is a familiar
job title to many
racing enthusiasts,
but what does this
position actually
entail? Paul Binfieldtalks to Derrick Blake,
a veteran of the
profession, to find
out about his workROYAL ASCOTAction Imagesp54-57 Clerk of the scales:Layout 1 6/5/08 08:30 Page 55
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