New design approved after controversy

Prominent racehorse owner Brae Sokolski has had great success in the industry, having shared in the ownership of Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and The Everest winners.

Speaking to The AJN, Sokolski said that racehorse owners rarely change their silk colours as they are considered to be a brand, akin to a family crest, but he decided to change his silks to express pride and solidarity with the Jewish community.

“You don’t change your colours flippantly. However, I reflected on my colours and the fact that they didn’t have any particular meaning, which most people’s colours don’t, but I had something very deep-seated in me that wanted to use my colours as a means to show my pride and strength in my Jewish heritage, in the context of our community being under siege and make a statement. The statement, not a political statement, being that we should be proud of our Jewish heritage and not allow anyone to diminish it or pressure us to hide it.”

In the first instance, he changed his colours to what appeared to resemble an Israeli flag on the jockey’s sleeve, which were registered in Queensland, and were worn by his horse Harry Met Sally to a victory at Ballarat on March 10.

Unsurprisingly this drew a lot of attention, and Racing Victoria (RV) told Sokolski the colours would not be permitted again, as they breached Local Rule 66A (1), which prohibits racing silks that promote a “political, religious or social agenda statement”. The controversy spread interstate when, on March 11, Racing NSW prevented the design from being used at Warwick Farm, as an application to register the colours in NSW had already been refused.