The amount of information and data about UK and Irish horseracing is vast. Not to mention live and archive video of all recent UK and Irish races. Punters, racing enthusiasts and those employed in the racing industry have never had so many resources available. Whilst some of this information is ‘raw’, much of it is filtered through media channels and broadcasters who can add their own colour and spin. There is also an inevitable delay in information being received, edited and published or broadcast.
With the development of social networks like Facebook and Twitter you can now obtain quality information direct from racing professionals and in real time. So maybe you’re not going to be given a dead cert but you can get the heads up before others. For example, on Sunday 5 December, a race meeting was scheduled at Warwick but due to the cold weather it was unclear whether racing would take place. The first news of the abandonment appeared not on the Warwick Racecourse or via the Racing Post’s channels, TV or radio but on Twitter from jockey @nick_scholfield.
With an increasing number of racing professionals and journalists signing up, Twitter is about as close as you can get to obtaining information direct from the horses mouth. Furthermore, social media is about conversation so you can ‘talk’ to anyone on Twitter. You might be surprised who replies.
In recent months, a number of jump jockeys have joined Twitter and you can view their profiles via the links below…sadly no Ruby Walsh…yet. I’ll aim to keep this listing up to date and in future posts You can also follow them along with some flat jockeys on this Twitter list – http://twitter.com/jpfestival/jockeys. I’ll publish the links to trainers and racing journos on Twitter in due course so watch this space.
UK and Irish jump jockeys on Twitter
Aidan Coleman – @aidancoleman
AP McCoy – @ap_mccoy
Barry Geraghty – @barryjgeraghty
David Crosse – @davidcrosse
Jack Doyle – @jackjd0yle
Gerard Tumelty – @gertumelty
Harry Derham – @harryderham
Harry Skelton – @harry89skelton
Joe Tizzard – @joetizzard
Keagan Latham – @keagz88
Mark Bradburne – @mbradburne
Nick Scholfield – @nick_scholfield
Paul Carberry – @paulcarberry
Paddy Brennan – @paddybrennan22
Pat Millman – @patmillman
Richie Killoran – @richiekilloran
Robert Thornton – @choc_thornton
Sam Thomas – @s4mmy1984
Thomas Molloy – @tommymolloy
Sam Twiston-Davies – @samtwiston
William Kennedy – @wtkjockey
Willy Twiston-Davies – @willytwiston
Wilson Renwick – @wilsonrenwick
If you would like to learn how to make the most of Twitter (or Facebook) , you might like to attend one of the regular workshops I run in Cheltenham. I can also travel to you. Please call me on 07966452380 for further info or if you have a specific query. You can find me on Twitter @jpfestival (mainly Cheltenham Festival content) and @jonnop (social media, tech and Cheltenham).
