Disqualification for breaking the whip rules is the British Horseracing Authority’s equivalent of the nuclear button – a deterrent designed never to be used.
I don’t like British racing’s whip rules. I didn’t like the rules introduced in 2011 and I like the ones announced on Tuesday – which put disqualification on the statute books for the first time – even less.
I’m perfectly prepared to admit that the ProCush whip – and I use its brand name only to distinguish the instrument used in our sport from the nylon-and-leather ones you’d be given if you had riding lessons – can represent a threat to equine welfare.
And I’m also aware that any activity that breeds and conditions animals for entertainment is under scrutiny from the public like never before.
It's not a simple numbers game
But I’m equally adamant that such threats can’t be measured by simply counting to seven, which is the limit of strikes allowed on the Flat, or to the permitted level of eight over jumps.
The whole issue is much more nuanced than that, and that’s why the approach in Japan and Hong Kong, where it’s not primarily about the numbers, is, to my way of thinking, preferable to the one in use here.
From the autumn, horses ridden by jockeys who exceed their allocation by four – in other words, 11 on the Flat and 12 over jumps – will be disqualified.
Imagine a well-backed 5-1 favourite ‘wins’ the Grand National by a handsome eight lengths, only for the dreaded ‘bing bong’ to sound.
Making headlines for the wrong reasons
The jockey, it turns out, has gone over eight hits and a stewards’ inquiry – broadcast live on ITV – is launched to ascertain the extent of the excess.
After a protracted debate over whether the 12th strike has made contact with the horse’s backside or the jockey’s boot, an amended result is announced.
The whip rules – and the fact they’ve been broken – become headline news again, triggering disastrous PR for racing and handing the sport’s opponents a stick with which to beat it.
Once-a-year punters who have backed the first past the post learn that they have lost their money, despite the offence making no material difference to the result.
Many will not return, and that’s not to mention the bettors in the Far East who put into the World Pool tote system that racing in Britain, currently strapped for cash, sees as its financial lifeline.
And how many will come back in the opposite direction, happy to engage with a sport because of its draconian whip rules, even though being hit with a piece of compressed foam is among the least of a thoroughbred’s worries?
In 2021, when the sanction of disqualification did not exist, no fewer than 120 races were won by jockeys who went over the limit by four strikes or more.
The British Horseracing Authority must hope that number comes down by 120 when the new rules take effect.
Or the consequences will be nuclear.
