The super rich are spending £120m on new horses while the rest of us are struggling – and I’m queasy

Cost of Living Crisis? What cost of living crisis?

The money flew and the champagne flowed at this week’s Newmarket yearling sales.

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A staggering £110m was spent on the next generation of blue-blooded racers, with three horses alone breaking the £2m mark.

Money talks in the world of flat races, where people are judged by the size of their bank accounts, not by the human rights record in their home country.

An obscene amount of money has been spent on horse meat in the past few days, and it all feels a little grotesque at a time when many people are struggling to pay their bills.

Mind you, I don’t suppose Sheikh Mohammed or MV Magnier need think twice about turning on the heat. Carry on guys.

Of course, this has been the case for decades and always will be – the blood cattle industry is worth billions.

It’s like a parallel universe when you walk through the doors of Tattersalls sales complex – a real Toff’s Paradise.

Horse sales are the playground of the super-rich, and it can be difficult for us farmers to keep track of some of the sums exchanged.

But not everyone in racing is driven by hard cash – there are some warm souls out there.

Let’s start with coach Mick Easterby, who is one of the most colorful figures the sport has ever seen.

Mick, 91, is crazy as a box of frogs and took to video on social media after losing his last tooth over the weekend.

Mick, a typical Yorkshireman, never misses an opportunity to make a few pounds, so he decided to put the ‘unique piece of racing history’ up for sale.

All proceeds from a silent auction on Easterby’s Facebook page will go to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The Easterby family have already raised over £140,000 for her.

Easterby said: “We used the ambulance quite a bit. When you’re in the middle of nowhere and need someone fast, they’re always the ticket.

“And if you keep the tooth for a few years, it can become very valuable!”

It may be Suella Braverman’s dream to put poor asylum seekers on a plane to Rwanda, but Easterby’s dream is to keep life-saving helicopters aloft. Good for him.

I was also made aware this week of the sad case of Paul Williams, a great Nottingham player who recently passed away after a battle with cancer.

Before his death, he commissioned an artist to build a horse sculpture from lost betting slips he and his friends had collected over the years.

The loss slips are said to be worth over a million pounds and William’s family are looking for the sculpture to find a good home.

It’s a real work of art and would look great in the head office of one of the major bookmakers.

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Come on guys, get your wallets out. All money from sales goes to Macmillan Cancer Support so it will be worth it.

Even Ascot shows its charitable side.

The Royal Racecourse understands that times are tough and a day at the races doesn’t come cheap.

Once you’ve paid for your ticket, eaten a pie, a pint and a punt, you’ve spent a small fortune. That’s the main reason attendance has plummeted so much this year.

So fair play for Ascot who hold a free race day on November 18th.

There is a £1 booking fee when buying online, but all the money goes to a local charity.

As the fat cats get fatter, never forget that there are still plenty of decent people in our sport.

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