New Whip Rules

Under the new rules Flat jockeys are allowed to hit the horse seven times in a race, but five in the final furlong. Hughes had been given 15 days for twice hitting a horse six times in the final furlong.

These rules are the refuge of the jobsworth, have nothing to do with the reality of racing and have been pushed though to pander to “public perception”. The rules are an ass.

There is nothing fair or reasonable about it.

Perhaps Mick Channon has put it most succinctly in declaring it “all bollocks”… always one to call a spade a spade.
 
Rumours on Twitter of jockeys planning on essentially striking on Monday. This would be catastrophic.

The rules are flawed in my opinion (although not as bad as some people make out) but the knee jerk reaction is unbelievable and this is going to play out incredibly badly in the media. It will be portrayed as jockeys going on strike because they can't hit horses as much as they would like to.

It'll go from an issue the public aren't too bothered about to being one of the chief items on the news if they strike.

A total PR disaster from every corner.
 
The new rules open up a nice loop hole to stop horses too. Give a horse a couple of reminders out the country amd the jockey only needs do the chicken dance up the straight. "closest at finish". If you really want a horse to win you book a journey man jockey willing to hit the horse to get it to win and take his ban. A quick back hander and everyone is happy. The new rules opens up more avenues for cheating than anything else. But hey rules are rules it's for the good of the breed so lets not worry about it.
 
del boy said:
He hit the horse 6 times and got a ten day ban. Terry is the problem in a nutshell, regardless of anything else.
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Why is Terry getting all the blame here? Who is Terry and how did they get him into the Nutshel?? Is the Nutshell complicit?? Who put him into the Nutshell and were the BHA consulted??:blink:
 
Think of a Nutshell as a very small Nut-house

(where the jockeys hang out, you know, especially that genius Richard H., if he's not hanging out with that weirdo-by-my-take-on-him Hannon.)
 
On The Bridle said:
Why is Terry getting all the blame here? Who is Terry and how did they get him into the Nutshel?? Is the Nutshell complicit?? Who put him into the Nutshell and were the BHA consulted??:blink:
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Il nutshell you next time i see you! Damn predictive text on Iphone. Ah well, could be worse, could have blackberry.

Terry should have been there. I think.
 
Gareth Flynn said:
At this rate the BHA probably wish they'd just banned the whip altogether.
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Hughes in fact said he would have preferred that too, to what they have to do now. Hughes is a skillful rider who doesn't need to rely heavily on the whip... the fact that he has already been caught out twice speaks volumes.
 
Cantoris said:
No. A jockey should be trying to achieve the best possible result within the rules. He cannot run a horse out at the final flight, just to improve the result. He must ride within the rules, and the whip rule was good enough at 12 for everyone to manage so it should be good enough at less. How many jocks rode this week? How many got banned? If it was that bad, why no more bans? Can anyone tell me a horse that lost because it didn't get a few more slaps?

I agree there need to be some changes but jocks need to realise that there are rules. A little slap on the wrist is no good. Let Hughes hand in his licence. It will give those jocks that can adapt to the rules a chance to pick up some winners from him. Rattles and prams.
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Here Here! We would all like nothing better to see the honest lads who abide by the rules get the chance to ride more winners. The likes of Barry Cash get jocked off far too easily.
 
SteveM said:
Hughes in fact said he would have preferred that too, to what they have to do now. Hughes is a skillful rider who doesn't need to rely heavily on the whip... the fact that he has already been caught out twice speaks volumes.
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It does......he's not a very clever lad.....obviously!! He is one of very few to get caught. How is it all the others have managed to master the rules in a week? Maybe he should stop writing for the Post and start spending some time working on his whip action.

Gamla makes an extremely good point. The jocks are creating a huge PR nightmare for themselves.
 
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Won't be any jockeys left riding at this rate they'll all be suspended first week you'd think the numbers being suspended would be lower as you would think psychology says "let's take it easy".
 
Kauto said:
Won't be any jockeys left riding at this rate they'll all be suspended first week you'd think the numbers being suspended would be lower as you would think psychology says "let's take it easy".
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It's against their very nature to take it easy (well most of them anyway).
 
Can someone clarify. How many races have been run since the ban came in and how many jocks suspended? The vast majority of jocks have no problem abiding by the new rules.
 
Hughes cannot have hit his horse six times and got a ban, when the rules say seven hits are permissible.

Hughes strikes me as definitely spitting the dummy - oh yes, the rules are absolutely fine before he rides under them. Then he makes a balls-up and now he's going to hand in his licence. I don't think racing, per se, is making itself a laughing-stock (the repeated smashing at BALLABRIGGS and REWILDING didn't have most people giggling), but some jockeys are determined to make themselves look like petulant fools. Ferdy Murphy's probably right!

Cruella - good factual stuff. Cantoris - good support for Cruella's post, which I ally my own thoughts with.

Ardross: Hughes could argue it's limiting his right to a living? Well, I'd be quite happy to make a living fencing moody Picassos or being an eliminator for the Mafia, because there's a good deal of money to be made either way. But, unfortunately, I believe there are some ridiculous rules against these ways of making a living, and I'd be punished if I fell foul of them. Dem's de breaks.
 
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