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The controversy over the whip rules in England continues to rumble on. Although new penalty structures were introduced last week, there are still concerns over the effects the rules will have on the jumps season.
With the national hunt season gaining momentum and the big meetings coming up jockeys concerns over the implications of the rules are heightened. Two bans picked up for a single strike over the limits could rule a jockey out of one the winter’s big races.
However jockeys haven’t always helped their cause. The public uproar that greeted Jason Maguire’s use of the whip on Grand National winner Ballabriggs helped to generate the rule change but two months before that Maguire got a five day ban for marking Cool Mission with the whip. Maguire had ridden him seven times before that chase in Doncaster last February and he had never once marked him but this is the kind of scenario the BHA are trying to eradicate with the new rules.
Other jockeys have overused the whip in races but haven’t always been caught because they finished down the field or because the horse wasn’t physically hurt. The mental scars for a young horse who has been on the receiving end of an overly strong whip hand can be long lasting and have a detrimental effect on his career. Horses remember bad experiences they have been through on the racetrack and don’t want to go through them again.
In all of this controversy it has to be remembered that jockeys are the ones with the most to lose. Chances to win races and career opportunities will be lost. More importantly, they are the ones with careers and livelihoods on the line. Every time they are banned, they can’t go to work so they can’t earn money. Especially in the times we are living in, it’s a huge worry for them.
Irish champion jockey Paul Townend explained how difficult the new whip rules are for jockeys and gave his perspective on the whip controversy. Paul hasn’t ridden under the new rules but he is still well placed to voice his opinion on them having watched the controversy unfold over the last seven weeks.
“They (BHA) had to be seen to be doing something but I think they took it too far. What they are doing is ruining racing. I haven’t rode over there with them yet but it seems to be very hard to stay within the rules.”
Many people in the animal rights movement believe that whips should be banned completely but spending your days perched precariously on top of an animal that weighs half a ton and soaring over jumps at speeds greater than thirty miles an hour gives you a different perspective. For jockeys the whip is vitally important in controlling racehorses.
“I don’t think they understand what we are hitting them with and why. You are riding a horse with just a light saddle and bridle so you need the whip just to control him. Some horses come off the bridle too far out in a race so you need the whip to make them come back on the bridle. They are not whips anymore. They are just a bit of foam but they are essential to horses just to control them.”
The rules apply to all races regardless of distance. In a flat race a jockey can hit the horse seven times, in a jumps race it’s just one more. So in a five furlong sprint, the shortest race distance, a jockey can hit his horse seven times and in the Grand National, which is four miles and four furlongs long, the jockey can hit the horse just eight times.
“It’s probably a bigger problem for the jumps lads than the flat lads. There should be a difference between flat and jumps. There is a big difference over five furlongs and three miles. The amount of times you can hit a horse in a jumps race has to be more than one more than in a flat race,” Paul argues.
There is also confusion among jockeys about what type of strike will get them banned. The rules were thought to apply to hitting the horse behind the saddle and that taps down the shoulder didn’t count. Jockeys tap a horse on the shoulder to correct him or keep him concentrating. It’s important for controlling the horse and for safety but the stewards appear to be counting these corrective measures when totting up their bans.
Paul says that the situation should be clarified. “They said that they were counting hitting him behind the saddle and not anything that was for correcting the horse but they are counting down the shoulder now. They should define what is for correction.”
On top of all the other things jockeys have to concentrate on during a race, they now have to remember when they hit a horse and how many times they hit him. Earlier this month, Barry Geraghty described the effects of this on jockeys’ concentration as similar to talking on a mobile phone while driving. This suggests that the new rules impact on the safety of jockeys and horses during a race and Paul agrees.
“You can only concentrate on so many things at the one time. You’re trying to watch what’s going on around you, watch what horses are jumping bad, what’s going well and then you’re trying to ride a finish and now you have to remember how many times you hit him earlier on.”
The new rules mean that it’s a catch twenty two situation for jockeys. If they hit the horse they risk a ban and in other situations if they don’t hit the horse they will incur the wrath of the stewards.
“You will have horses wandering right and left in the last furlong. You can’t hit him down the shoulder to control him because you don’t know if you will get done for it.
You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If you don’t try and control him you will get done for careless riding. If you wander off a straight line or if you do hit him a belt you will get done for that too. There is no winning really.”
If the situation continues on like this it will have an impact on where jockeys ride and whether they travel over to England. For the likes of Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty, who have associations with leading British trainers Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson, the situation is even more complicated. Bans picked up in England apply over here.
“It wouldn’t stop me travelling over because you want to ride in the big races. It’s not too bad for me because I only go over for the big meetings but for the likes of Ruby and Barry they can’t justify going over for racing during the week for so little money with the risk of getting banned,” Townend explains.
“They can’t even come back and ride on big days here. If you get banned for three days you can still ride in a Grade One race but not with a five day ban,” he explains. Under racing’s rules bans for three days or less are not in effect on Grade One days. The adjustments made to the rules mean that a second ban for being one strike over the limit, or any ban for being two strikes or more above it, will rule jockeys out of Grade One races.
It’s not just jockeys who suffer because of the rules. “It’s not fair on owners. They put a lot of money into the sport and we wouldn’t be there without them. They see horses that need a belt to try and win and they don’t get it. They will leave racing and go to other sports.”
It’s difficult to see what the BHA can do to improve matters without losing face or damaging relations with stakeholders but it is clear that the current situation is damaging for racing and it will probably only get worse as the winter goes on.
“It’s just so messy at the moment and it’s hard to know what they are going to do. The old way was grand for us. Everybody was happy enough but I imagine it would be difficult enough to go back to it. The cruelty crowd will just kick up again if they go back to the old ways,” Townend suggests.
* This article first appeared in The Nationalist on 22 November 2011
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