Non-Trier controversy: ‘If that’s the way they want you to ride horses, that’s the way you have to do it’

Irish Grand National-winning jockey Robbie Power says that horse racing’s updated Non-Trier rule means that jockeys will be riding for punters and stewards rather than horses and their connections, and admits that riders will have to be harder than they would like and risk the futures of young horses, to avoid falling foul of the regulation.

Aidan O’Brien, Wayne Lordan, Johnny Murtagh and Andrew Lynch have been among the trainers and jockeys who have been punished under the updated Rule 212 since its implementation on January 20.

Irish Jockeys’ Association secretary Andrew Coonan has suggested that the rule be reviewed after the Galway Festival while Irish Racehorse Trainers’ Association chief executive Michael Grassick has echoed Coonan’s concerns about its interpretation.