Talking Horses: Bumpy ride ahead for latest attempt to impose whip rules

B ritish racing’s latest attempt to impose once-and-for-all rules on use of the whip began on Monday at Catterick, Plumpton and Wolverhampton, with the hope that the fresh toughening of the regime will not generate the same controversy and negative publicity as the last line-in-the-sand moment in the autumn of 2011.

That prompted threats of an all-out strike by jockeys and led to Richard Hughes briefly handing in his riding licence in protest, while Christophe Soumillon was fined his cut of the prize fund – about £55,000 – for going one stroke over the limit of seven in the Champion Stakes at Ascot.

The process of sanding down the rough edges of the rules began almost immediately. The strike threat was averted, Hughes went on to win the championship three years running from 2012 and Soumillon got his money back. But it was all so bruising and humiliatingly public it is perhaps no surprise that this time around the tweaks to the new regime started before it had even come into force.

The latest rules are the result of an extended consultation process on the use of the whip, which included jockeys, trainers and animal welfare groups. An initial intention to ban use of the whip in the forehand position was dropped last month, after many senior riders expressed concerns.

A proposal to double the current penalty for use above shoulder height has also been dropped, with suggestions from some riders, including Harry Cobden, Paul Nicholls’s stable jockey, they had been warned by officials, during a “bedding-in” period for the new rules,extended bans for winning rides would have been received had they occurred once the new regime was in force.

The British Horseracing Authority disputes the numbers attached to those claims – it