Jockeys due to take part in next week’s Cheltenham Festival have been given a sharp reminder about the whip rules by the sport’s ruling body. While using new statistics to trumpet the effectiveness of the whip regime brought in at the end of 2011, the British Horseracing Authority cautioned riders that the rules must be observed at one of the sport’s showpiece events.
The rate at which jockeys breach the whip rules has dropped by 39% since the start of 2012, the BHA claims, and Jamie Stier, its director of regulation, said that was proof of “a culture change towards use of the whip amongst riders” improving horsemanship, animal welfare and the public’s perception of racing. Stier was especially pleased that the reduced offending rate had been steady over the past three years at around 0.65% of all runners, suggesting that neither jockeys nor stewards were backsliding.
“We hope that this will remain the case, in particular at next week’s Cheltenham Festival,” Stier concluded and additional statistics, specific to the Festival, indicate a possible source of Stier’s concern. There were 13 offences at the 2014 Festival according to BHA figures released to the Guardian, which, from a total of 487 runners, gives an offending rate of 2.7%, four times the annual average.
Two of those offences were by amateur jockeys while a further five were by riders based in Ireland where the rules are more relaxed. The most significant ban at the last Festival was the seven-day suspension given to David Casey for his Gold Cup ride on the runner-up, On His Own.
BHA officials believe the 2013 Festival, when there were just seven offences (1.5% of all runners), shows that jockeys are capable of following the rules even in the most high-profile and high-pressure circumstances.
The overall figures were welcomed by Paul Struthers, chief executive of the Professional Jockeys Association, who said they reflected “great credit on our jockeys”. He added that “the overwhelming majority” of infractions were minor, technical or accidental and noted that jockeys found guilty of more significant transgressions had “paid a heavy price”.
In an effort to counter suggestions that jockeys tend to forget about the whip rules in major races, the BHA noted that no whip offence was recorded in 61 of the 72 Group One or Grade One races last year. Just four of the 72 winning rides breached the whip rules. However, the BHA said it did not have equivalent figures for major handicaps, which might be thought more likely to result in bans.
The BHA was also pressed about Cheltenham’s decision to name the final race of the Festival, the Grand Annual, after the soon-to-retire Tony McCoy. The news revived memories of the Carlisle race in 2008 named after Tony Dobbin, who duly rode the winner. That episode ended with a sour taste as the jockey on the runner-up was initially found in breach of the non-triers’ rules, though that verdict was quashed on appeal.
A BHA spokesman, Owen Byrne, said at the time: “We think the celebration of a jockeys’ retirement should be after the event, not before or during,” and suggested that such race-titles might be discouraged in future. But the BHA’s Robin Mounsey said on Thursday that naming the Grand Annual after McCoy “causes us no concern at all” and confirmed that the BHA had been consulted on the matter by Cheltenham.
On a busy day for the BHA, its disciplinary panel freed Andrew Thornton to ride at next week’s Festival by reducing his ban for weighing in heavy on a muddy day at Plumpton from six days to three. However, Thornton is much less fashionable than when he won the Gold Cup in 1998 and does not expect to be booked for Cheltenham. He remains banned on Monday, which, he said, was the day he most wanted to be free, as he would have got rides at Plumpton.
Foxrock will be supplemented for the Ryanair Chase at next week’s Festival after connections decided that the Gold Cup might be too much of a test for the seven-year-old, who was runner-up in the Irish Hennessy last month.
