New Whip Rules

I am firmly in favour of someone coming into the ATR studio and showing Matt Chapman the difference between the old whip and the air cushioned personally .

Then again if it was Mis Whiplash so i imagine would be Chapman - is he more orange than ever these days or is my TV on the blink ?
 
Ah come on now. I hand over my car to my brother to drive and he writes it off, it comes off his comprehensive insurance, not mine

Maybe in Ireland but not in England, where we insure the CAR not the driver.
 
Its getting tough to follow the bans as they are coming hard and fast now. Paul McMahon's ban could see a lot of Irish Trainers licking their wounds if he pulls out of racing. Thought Barry Geraghty came across well on the radio this morning. Did anybody watch the coverage as it was in camera. Where did he hit the people??
 
Not sure what McMahon will gain from pulling out of racing - as far as I know he only has horses in Ireland so it'll be every blue moon that this effects him and it'll only damage Irish racing and Irish trainers.

The only way the BHA will be bothered if is if someone mixes his colours up with Susan Roy's - though given the current shower that are incumbent at BHA Towers that's not a massive price!
 
Not sure what McMahon will gain from pulling out of racing - as far as I know he only has horses in Ireland so it'll be every blue moon that this effects him and it'll only damage Irish racing and Irish trainers.

The only way the BHA will be bothered if is if someone mixes his colours up with Susan Roy's - though given the current shower that are incumbent at BHA Towers that's not a massive price!

I've been watching Clondaw Warrior's win a few times on the bet365/extra archive service, and 2 things stand out. Firstly, I simply cannot find the 17 strikes - he seems to hit the horse 8 times from the top of the hill, with 2 or 3 of those down/in front of the shoulder to prevent him hanging into the runner-up. It's not a great ride, but that's hardly the issue. The second thing is that the RUK coverage doesn't show the head on because they switch immediately to Ascot where Nick Luck interviews Paul Roy about the new rules, which is somewhat ironic.
 
I've just watched it again. You definitely have a point, Rory, I can't see what he's done wrong and any talk of 17 strikes is bonkers. No wonder he's upset.
 
The sound effects should be great! Shwoooosh-thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

"Oh-oh-oh! Harder-ooh, yessss, and again, yessss... ooooooohhhhh.... !"

(You might have to be sure of the recipient's special "interests" before laying into them and inadvertently launching into audio Whip Porn.)
 
Last edited:
Just as I make up rhythms for my junior cricketers to use when bowling or moving around the crease perhaps we could come up with an 8 rap/rhythm for use by jockeys when riding out a finish, or when 'changing their riding style to suit.'

By the way can a horse count, if so like some of those I have part owned when that number is reached race over!

MR2
 
We could crib a bit, Monty:

It's a one for the money
And a two for the show,
Come on now, horsey
And go, go, go!

Three to get ready
'Cos four's next, ya know

Five's gotta getcha goin'
So don't run outta blow

All the other guys are
Usin' their sticks,
So get ready, horse,
'Cos here's number six!

We're down past the one
And you're nearly done

And now it's Hell or Heaven
'Cos here comes Number Seven!

A lot of racegoers I've nattered to have expressed an interest in developing a talking whip to aid numerically-challenged jocks - anyone up for an investment?? :lol:
 
Last edited:
I'm a wummun, sweetie - I just tapped that out with one hand while making a cuppa with the other!

(Oh, that's really made me laugh, Monty. My flat buyer's solicitor has asked mine for the 'operating instructions' for a small Ariston water heater to be left behind. I've sent the following response: "There aren't any operating instructions for the water heater. It's wired into where the old water tank used to be and it's a red light for ON, and no light for OFF, if you think he can manage that.")
 
Have the HRA, BHB (or whatever they call themselves these days) got confused with the rule of thumb for alcohol? One over the eight and you're out?
 
From Sporting Life site:

The British Horseracing Authority have announced further amendments to the new whip rules, which were originally introduced on October 10.

The number of uses per race for the whip by a jockey is to remain at seven for the Flat and eight over jumps, but a number of changes to the structure for penalties will come into effect from tomorrow.

Any rider now going one strike over the allowed limit will receive a two-day ban and not the current five, and while a second offence will still be doubled, it will be from two to days to four, and not from five to 10.

Should a rider exceed the frequency limit, the stewards will hear the evidence of the jockey and review the video footage to identify which use(s), if any, might legitimately be disregarded.

BHA chairman Paul Roy said in a statement: "These developments represent a carefully considered and measured response to both our monitoring procedures and constant dialogue with the PJA (Professional Jockeys Association) and other relevant parties.

"A key purpose of the (whip) Review was to achieve behavioural change. This absolutely remains the case, and the same high standards of good horsemanship and equine welfare remain at the heart of our approach to the whip. We are encouraged that we have seen a great deal of behavioural change in a short time period since the implementation of the recommendations of the Review.

"However, in terms of the specific rules and penalties themselves, it has always been our position that we will constantly monitor how jockeys are adapting. If by making adjustments we can achieve behavioural change more effectively, then as a responsible regulator we should do that.

"There were fundamental reasons for the changes we introduced last month. They were for the good of the sport and its long-term health, including all its participants, and all groups consulted agreed that new rules were needed.

"The sport as a whole now needs to cooperate to make the new rules work, and move forward to achieve what we all want to see - a firm but fair set of rules that promote competitive racing, and safeguard welfare and the reputation of British Racing."

Exemptions will be reinstated for Group One races for whip breaches attracting penalties of four days suspension or less, bringing the whip regulations into line with other offences.

The BHA statement also said that "should the PJA itself set up a group to monitor and assess the impact of the new rules, focusing in particular on practical issues as they relate to jump racing but overall not limited in its scope, then clear terms of engagement between this Group and the BHA will be developed.

"This will result in formal, structured dialogue which will take place throughout the jumps season, with the BHA also continuing and enhancing its own monitoring procedures.

"The Board will also adjust where appropriate the period of suspension imposed on any rider who has either not commenced serving a period of suspension or has served only part of a period of suspension imposed for a breach of the whip Rules.

"They have also ordered that, where appropriate, prize money is paid to those jockeys whose period of suspension is reduced to below seven days as a result of the changes recommended in this paper."
 
Common sense at last - frankly had they done their job properly in the first place this is likely to be where we would have been at .
 
Two things.

Firstly liked the comment ' .... PJA (Professional Jockeys Association) and other relevant parties' - and other relevant parties!!! Tells me the BHA are running scared of their own shadows.

Secondly, you have to wonder what debacle the BHA are next going to crash into/contrive/get embroiled in.

MR2
 
Meeting last week in Ireland about the whip rules. All stakeholders agreed that their isn't really a whip problem in Ireland and no need to change the rules.
 
There was not really a whip problem in the UK either though :rolleyes:

That's open to interpretation. There are very few whip bans in Irish televised racing. However, Ballabriggs and Rewilding were two shocking examples of over use of the whip. We don't seem to have a similar problem in Ireland, although we have a bunch of other ones i.e. not using the whip at all :whistle:
 
Cornelius Lysaght on the BBC website:

Before Christmas, there was a definite feeling that the row over the new regulations governing jockeys and the use of their whips was simmering down.

Fewer riders were infringing, and conventional wisdom began to have it that changes implemented by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) in October had simply needed a bedding-in period.

But the controversy was spectacularly reignited last week when well over 100 days of suspensions were handed down, seven of them following the weekend feature.

However, despite the inevitable anger, the timing of all this could barely have been more opportune, coming, as it does, just as the BHA's new chief executive, Paul Bittar, takes up his post.


Jockeys can use the whip seven times in Flat races and eight times over jumps
Jockeys exceeding the limit by one strike will be suspended
Exceeding the limit by more than one strike will mean the jockey forfeits share of prize money
If he needed it, Bittar has received clear, early confirmation that sorting the sport's biggest crisis in years has to be top of his inbox.

No one is any doubt at all that a clampdown on the genuine abuse of any horse by a jockey with their whip is what everyone - racing insiders and the bulk of outsiders alike - wants to see.

But it is fundamental to any justice system that the punishment fits the crime.

In the big Saturday race at Kempton, there was nothing abusive about winning jockey Will Kennedy's whip use on Swincombe Flame, but it transpired that he had broken the new quotas on 'hits', albeit narrowly.

Okay, a punishment was due, but it could not possibly be argued that a seven-day ban, plus the forfeiting of his £2,000-plus prizemoney, as the new rules require, was appropriate.

Indeed, one of the on-course officials - and Bittar needs to address their exasperation on this issue too - said: "Before the new rules, you'd have called that a really great ride, and now it has to be penalised."

Kennedy was also told to forfeit his prize money after the Lanzarote Hurdle
Since October, the BHA has made tactical retreats, not once but twice, without which it might have risked a pretty much unprecedented jockeys' strike.

It is unrealistic to think that the Authority is ever going to surrender altogether, but consideration of further alterations to the 'hits' quotas - seven in Flat races, eight over jumps - is probably needed.

And the prizemoney 'fines' do, I am afraid, seem savage for relatively minor offences.

BHA officials have insisted that they continue to 'closely monitor' the situation and to take representation from all parties.

To this end, on Friday, there is a meeting with the jockeys, apparently scheduled some time ago, at which Bittar, himself a straight-talking Aussie, will hear some pretty blunt arguments.

My expectation is that at some stage his arrival will be turned into a window of opportunity to make further - fairly final - changes to the whip rules. Not immediately, but soon.
 
The Lanzarote highlighted another anomaly in the whip rules. Leaving aside the question whether the rules make sense in the first place, it seems crazy that Swincombe Flame is allowed to keep a race it only won because its jockey broke the rules. Why, apart from Will Kennedy, should the connections and backers of the second be the ones to lose out?
 
Back
Top