Horse Racing

The doctor will entertain you right now


Happy Green Monday, if that doesn’t contradict the terminology. Some of us may feel that all of January sucks, but someone, somewhere, once decided that the third Monday of this month is the saddest day of the year, so we we are here.

Fear not, though, because if you need a little encouragement on this dark day then you can do worse than following coach Fergal O’Brien’s Twitter account (@OBMRacing), head of the most itinerant National Hunt stable in Britain, was guaranteed a daily supply of something between a belly laugh and a chuckle, and often both. Considering the high frequency of winners coming from O’Brien’s stables (he’s currently ahead of multiple-time champ Paul Nicholls in this regard and the first of his peers to cross the 100 mark winner this season), one will most likely wonder how the coach found so much time to tweet. The answer is he doesn’t.

Like some coaches, O’Brien outsources his social media, and those familiar with the account might assume that he hires a full-time comedian to manage his presence. his online presence, but in reality, he doesn’t employ anyone. The man behind the account is Dr Simon Gillson (@DrSimonCMP), who co-founded the private practice company Concierge Medical in 2013 and writes entertaining tweets that have brought much joy to others. His living near Cleeve Hill allowed ‘Dr Simon’, as he was known in racing circles, to indulge his passion for jumps at Cheltenham, his local racecourse and at O’Brien’s nearby Ravenswell yard.

“We have a private practice in the Cotswolds, an old fashioned in-home GP service and the first person to sign up for that service in late 2013 was one of the Ferg owners,” said Gillson. explain. “I didn’t know him at the time but towards the end of 2014, I went to the owners and coaches bar with him in Cheltenham. That’s when I met Ferg and, like any good trainer, over the next four weeks he encouraged me to buy shares in a racehorse.”

He continued, “Both of my grandfathers loved to bet, and then one of them was particularly fond of racing, so when I was growing up in Yorkshire you could go to about nine or 10 races in the course of time. around an hour and a half. During the summer breaks we spent a lot of time flat racing, which was great at the time, but then it made me a more National Hunt fan.

‘Racing Twitter’ really took off about a decade ago and in that time there have been some good, bad and downright ugly exchanges on the social networking site.

Especially horse riders and some trainers get into a lot of games, which can often be deeply frustrating, but Twitter has also become an important source of news and advertising for the industry, as well as a large amount of entertainment.

Equestrian trainers and athletes already attached to the platform can use the platform to their advantage while giving racing fans some great behind-the-scenes insights. , although there has been a trend towards ‘managed’ social media accounts, these accounts lose something due to their dishonesty. That’s certainly not the case for O’Brien, thanks to the eccentric humor of Gillson, whose witty daily observations on everything from sports to baking to politics are a breath of fresh air. Nor has he neglected his real-life position (IRL, as the kids like to say) as a doctor to deliver a more serious message about mental health issues while avoiding the Silly memes pop up around this important topic.

“I think, with the support of my doctor, we now have a platform that has helped people,” he said. “Combine that with the horses, and we can help people. Even if it’s just a few that come to the pitch and feel a lot better about it, it’s clearly not a pity for us. And the thought that we’ve made someone’s day a little bit better is amazing. And if they want to come back that’s fine too, because obviously horses have a healing effect on some people and we’re happy to share that with anyone.

“I’m doing social media for my medical practice, and it’s a very different environment to do medical related tweets. It’s not exactly a jokey thing. And then I realized that no one really does any social media for the pitch, which seems like a shame for someone of Ferg’s personality to not put some of that on social media. festival. So that’s where it started.”

Gillson continued, “The whole point is really that I feel pretty lucky to get that part [in a horse] and then step onto the field to see things I’ve never seen as a racer. It opened my eyes to how much goes on behind the scenes. There are many people involved. It’s funny, it’s hard, it’s painful sometimes. And really I feel that it’s something everyone should see. And yes, I think my initial thought process was that I wanted to be able to tweet what I wanted to see as a race fan. And that’s where we were aiming. I think some jokes and stuff came after that.

“There are a lot of accounts run by trainers or people in the stables who obviously know a lot about horses and racing but don’t convey it brilliantly. Or there are some obviously PR-led ads that are nice but don’t give you insight into what’s really going on. And the goal is to try to get somewhere in between the two. I soon wondered if people would get fed up.

In fact, the opposite has happened, and in the seven years that Gillson tweeted to O’Brien, the stables account has amassed 55,500 followers, and the number continues to grow. Sometimes, followers will suggest to the trainer that the informal social media manager needs a raise.

“He would say ‘you can get a 100% raise,’ because he doesn’t pay me anything,” the doctor said with a laugh.

With some of his tweets, his sarcastic humor was almost a hit, and at times Twitter leaders suspended the account.

He added, “The most embarrassing thing that I was banned from was the Covid misinformation because I made something very obvious which was a joke based on a professor who appeared a lot on TV when starting to talk about it. at the beginning of the pandemic, who always said that everything would be fine. “

As we all know, it’s not always okay. We all need a break from the norm sometimes, and for those who love racing but don’t have the same level of reach as those who practice sports every day, social media is invaluable in transportation. Virtual people, or sometimes in O’Brien’s case -door policy, are really at the heart of the action. Gillson isn’t immune to its benefits, either.

“I love doing it and it’s a welcome release from my day job,” he says. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve worked in much more stressful environments, but it’s still great to have something completely different.”

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