Racing

Jockeys stunned as first week of new British whip rules sees 20 suspensions given

Charlotte Jones and Lunar Discovery disqualified from Ayr race with a number of jockeys to miss Cheltenham Festival

Charlotte Jones is the first jockey to see her mount disqualified under the new whip rules put in place by the British Horseracing Authority. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
Charlotte Jones is the first jockey to see her mount disqualified under the new whip rules put in place by the British Horseracing Authority. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
Greg Wood
Wed Feb 22 2023 - 15:52

Lunar Discovery, the runner-up in a bumper at Ayr on February 14th, has become the first horse to be disqualified for a breach of the new whip rules after the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) found that Charlotte Jones used her whip 11 times during the race, four above the new permitted level of seven.

Jones was one of 19 jockeys found to have broken the BHA’s latest whip rules in the first seven days of the new regime, which started on February 13th. The Whip Review Committee (WRC) meeting on Tuesday handed out a total of 134 days in bans, including an 18-day suspension for Lorcan Williams for a winning ride on Makin’yourmindup at Haydock on February 18th. The ban will rule him out of the four-day Cheltenham Festival next month.

Luke Scott (14 days), Cameron Iles (11 days) and Jones (14 days) will also miss the Festival, while Kevin Brogan (eight days) will miss the opening day of the sport’s showpiece meeting on March 14th. His four-day ban for going one over the limit on Collectors Item, the runner-up behind Makin’yourmindup, was doubled to eight as the race was a Class One event.

All suspensions imposed at the WRC’s weekly meeting on Tuesday begin seven days later and the new minimum penalty for a breach is a four-day suspension. As a result, any rider found in breach of the new rules between February 20th and 26th will automatically incur a ban which rules them out of the Festival next month.

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Brant Dunshea, the BHA’s chief regulatory officer, said on Wednesday that disqualification “has been introduced as the ultimate deterrent for use of the whip”, adding: “There is simply no excuse for using the whip four or more times above the permitted level. It was always likely that the disqualification rule would need to be invoked in the early stages of the implementation of the new rules. We hope that this sends a clear message to all jockeys and reinforces this deterrent effect.”

Dunshea also said that Williams had been “advised on numerous occasions throughout the bedding-in period of rides that would amount to a breach of the new rules.” As a result, the WRC “have included a mandatory session with the British Racing School as part of his penalty”.

One of the key intentions of the BHA’s latest tightening of the whip rules was to remove its use – or misuse – as a subject of debate, above all at the high-profile meetings, such as Cheltenham and Aintree’s Grand National Festival in April, which the Authority sees as a “shop window” for the sport that reaches beyond its core audience.

Julie Harrington, the BHA’s chief executive, told an international racing industry conference in Australia earlier this month that “we know the final stages of the [Cheltenham] Gold Cup will be shown on news programmes and that means this is an opportunity to make the sport look better.”

However, the early signs at least are that the BHA’s latest change to the rules – the first major revision since 2011 – is already having unintended consequences.

The deterrent effect of disqualification proved to be inadequate within 48 hours of the regime coming into effect, while five riders have already been ruled out of some or all of the Cheltenham Festival. Further suspensions, covering all four days of the Festival meeting and potentially for going just one hit over the new limit, seem all but certain to be handed down next week.

The 19 British-based jockeys who picked up bans last week also had the benefit of a “bedding-in” period before the new rules came into force.

Jockeys based in Ireland will be riding at next month’s Festival without any chance to adapt their style, and a significant suspension – of 14 days or more – would come into effect on March 28th, which would rule them out of the valuable Irish Grand National meeting at Fairyhouse over the Easter weekend.