Whip regulations not well thought out
It’s very hard for jockeys, in the heat of the moment, to remember “where is the furlong pole?”, “how many times did I hit him before it?” and “how many times did I hit him after it?” I know you have people saying “can’t they count?” but you’re riding a half ton of horse flesh, trying to keep it balanced, to ride a race and to win. That’s what your focus should be on.
If a jockey has had his quota and puts his whip down and gets beaten as a result, what purpose does that serve? It seems not to have been very well thought out. It looks fine on paper but there are so many extenuating circumstances.
On the flat, a horse is leaning into another horse. You’ve got to straighten it up. The only way of doing that is pulling the whip through and giving it a hit. If you don’t do that, even if you win the race, you will probably lose it in the stewards’ room.
When you get onto the jumping, we’ve all seen horses landing crooked on heavy ground, trying to veer off one way or another. Again, you need to give them a slap to get them running and on an even keel again, and if you don’t, they’re going to interfere with other horses. If you’ve had your quota, you can’t unless you want to risk suspension and lose your riding fee.
What people forget is that apart from the few that have retainers, jockeys don’t have salaries. They are not paid a weekly wage regardless. They are paid per ride and if they are out for two weeks, or fined their fee, that’s a serious loss of income. What’s more, they’re paid to do their best and as Richard Hughes said, he doesn’t feel right if he can’t do his best. And he’s never been one to hit a horse too much.
It doesn’t look like there is any likelihood that the authorities will bring similar rules into Ireland. The punishments are strict in Ireland for overuse, or ill-judged use of the whip and have been applied pretty sensibly. Once there’s common sense, everyone is happy, because it’s not as if the jockeys want to abuse horses, or trainers or owners want to see them abused.
This is a case of optics really, because of the use of the word ‘whip’ for what is basically padded foam. They’re trying to make it look better for people outside of the racing world but it’s ruining it for those who are actually immersed in it. There are too many circumstances that are beyond the jockey’s control and the punishments for relatively small misdemeanours are much too severe.
The ‘Two To Watch’ is fairly straightforward this weekend, given that I only have two runners but having said that, readers shouldn’t just take it that they’re being put up for the want of any alternatives.
It’s fair to say that we wouldn’t be taking Bible Belt to Ascot today if we didn’t think she had a good chance. She travelled over well and I’m very happy with her. It’s a good race with Banimpire and Dancing Rain but if you forget about Bible Belt’s last run – and you should because she got completely bogged down in the Blandford Stakes at the Curragh - she’d be going with every chance.
They say it will be genuinely good ground so that would suit much better. The last day didn’t suit at all and everything up to that would say that she is entitled to run at this level. What’s more, she’s running over two furlongs further and I think that will be right down her alley. I’d be expecting a big run.
Glamorous takes to hurdling for the first time at Cork tomorrow. She jumps well at home. She’s a little bit keen and so the big thing will be to get her to settle. If she settles, she will run a very big race.
We had been thinking about supplementing Dragon Pulse for the Racing Post Trophy but have decided against it. It’s been a long year and he’s already out in the field on his holidays. We thought it best to be able to keep dreaming throughout the winter!
Steps To Freedom certainly did enough on Thursday to fuel more dreams. He was by far the most inexperienced horse in the race and by and large he jumped pretty well. Okay, he definitely fluffed his lines at the second last but that would have done for a lot of horses.
Instead, he came back on the bridle and actually won very easily without Robert (Power) having to use the dreaded whip even once. For a horse that has had a lot of running, he is still quite green so you know there’s plenty more improvement.
The best thing about it all though was that he handled the ground. He goes really well on good ground and we weren’t sure if he’d go on yielding-to-soft. If he hadn’t done so, we would have been shutting the stable door until March. Now we can target the Royal Bond unless it gets too heavy, in which case we might go to Cheltenham for the Open meeting instead.
