There are a number of big events at Cheltenham each year: the one sponsored by Paddy Power – the meet where their logo is plastered liberally all over the place – is not the March one. Cue outrage not just from the trans community, but from women’s groups too. Let’s start with the whys and wherefores.įor those who haven’t picked up on the full horror of this saga yet, the fuss – the absolute shock currently doing the rounds – started with Irish bookmakers, Paddy Power publicizing their presence at Ladies’ Day at the Cheltenham races on 14 March in England with an advertising campaign that implies they are going to send in a load of trans women for punters to ‘spot’.Īn accompanying ad campaign warns fans to be careful they don’t mistake a ‘stallion’ (trans woman) for a ‘mare’ (‘real’ woman) – and isn’t above implying that women who fail to make the cut, aesthetically, are ‘dogs’. Worse, their inability to deal with the provocation serves mostly to expose their own contradictions, leaving the real offender laughing all the way to the bank.
As the Paddy Power controversy drags on, it is clear that the majority of UK institutions are impotent to prevent a determined and cynical intent by a major commercial enterprise to cock a snook at them.
