Champion trainer Paul Nicholls has demanded the BHA show “a bit of backbone” and stand up for horse racing in another blast over the introduction of the new whip rules before the Cheltenham Festival.
The 13-time champion’s call to delay the implementation of stricter measures until after the major spring jumps meetings fell on deaf ears with the rules coming into force in mid-February.
One of his jockeys Lorcan Williams was among the first to breach the reduced whip stroke limit when collecting an 18-day ban that has ruled him out of the Cheltenham Festival.
