With just over two weeks to Cheltenham Irish officials have revealed widespread fears about a potential “nightmare scenario” where festival winners could be disqualified due to breaches of controversial new whip rules.
The first report from the British Horseracing Authority’s (BHA) whip review committee issued last week outlined how 20 cross-channel jockeys were penalised for breaching regulations.
The most spectacular was the disqualification of the Ayr bumper runner-up Lunar Discovery due to jockey Charlotte Jones using her whip 11 times, four more than the permitted number of seven.
‘Nightmare scenario’
That occurred on the very first day of the new BHA rules coming into force after a four-week bedding-in period and confounded expectations that such a breach would be very unlikely.
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“That’s the nightmare scenario and the one most people thought wouldn’t happen or was certainly very unlikely to happen. The fact it did on the very first week is a big, big wake-up call. Could it happen at Cheltenham? Nobody at this stage could say it couldn’t happen,” said secretary of the Irish Jockeys Association (IJA) Andrew Coonan.
The Irish Racehorse Trainers Association (IRTA) has also said uncertainty over the whip is dominating the build-up to the most important week of the national hunt season.
“Most Irish riders are stepping into the unknown. The nightmare scenario is a horse winning a race at Cheltenham and then losing it two days later.
“Unfortunately, it’s a thing where we can’t do anything about it. It’s a big step into the unknown and there’s no getting away from the fact that it is a point of considerable concern,” said IRTA chief executive Ryan McElligott.
Although no horse can be disqualified on the day if their jockey breaks the whip rules — allowing bookmakers pay out on the result — a winner can subsequently be thrown out by the weekly whip review committee.
It leaves open the possibility of the Gold Cup winner holding the race on the day but getting disqualified days later.
That in turn throws open a ludicrous ‘limbo’ situation where the results stands but in a context where a tot of the jockey’s strikes make a result change inevitable.
IJA representatives will hold another meeting with BHA representatives on the eve of the festival to try and inform Irish riders about what’s required of them.
The vast majority of visiting riders will be experiencing the BHA’s new rules for the first time at Cheltenham and without having had the bedding-in period where BHA consulted with riders on what is and isn’t acceptable.
Another factor is that more stringent suspensions for whip offences risk ruling out riders from the subsequent spring festivals.
Cheltenham penalties
Fairyhouse’s Easter festival starts on April 8th while Aintree runs from April 13th-15th. Punchestown brings the curtain down on the Irish jumps season from April 25th-29th.
Significant Cheltenham penalties handed out by the whip review committee would come into play on March 28th, uncomfortably close to Fairyhouse and Aintree in particular.
“It is a very stark situation,” Coonan pointed out. “We have been liaising with the BHA. We’ve had representatives over to talk to us at Leopardstown. They’ve sent us over video clips, of what’s permitted and what’s not permitted during the bedding-in period.
“Barry Geraghty and myself reviewed all of those with a large number of riders in a zoom conference.
“We plan another meeting with NHA representatives on March 8th where we will have had a further opportunity by that stage to review what’s happened and what might happen in the weeks ahead and where they [rules] are predominantly falling.
“There’s already a little bit of a pattern and maybe that pattern has surprised some.
“The number of strikes is an obvious one. What maybe hadn’t been anticipated was the element of failure of time to respond. There was a higher number of those than anticipated. Hand over head height we still think is a very subjective view, and that’s a problem.
“We’re going to continue to review but the big problem is most riders in Britain have had a four-week bedding in period and obviously our lands haven’t.
“They’re looking to go into the heat of battle, and it is very much that at Cheltenham, where they’re going to find themselves in a place with very stringent regulations. That is the big concern.
“But it’s not just that. Immediately after Cheltenham comes our premier meeting at Fairyhouse, running into Aintree, running into Punchestown: a rider picks up a suspension at Cheltenham, that penalty doesn’t kick in until two weeks after the review date, and realistically you could have some of our riders potentially missing big spring meetings.
“I have to say it is the main focus for riders at this point in time, in terms of concerns for the season ahead.”
