What 99.9% of fans and professionals alike saw at Ascot on Saturday was a thrilling and compelling duel to the line in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Jim Crowley and Hukum edged past Westover in a contest that deserves to be remembered as one of the best in a storied race’s long history.
What the members of the BHA’s whip review committee are likely to see when they study the replay at their weekly meeting on Tuesday, however, is Crowley using his whip at least eight, and possibly nine, times on the way to victory. As a result, Crowley could face a 20-day ban, which would rule him out of the four-day Ebor meeting at York in three weeks’ time, and a fine of £10,000, the maximum under the new rules.
Since Crowley’s book of rides on the Knavesmire would be likely to include Mostahdaf, the four-length Prince of Wales’s Stakes winner, in the £1m International Stakes, the financial cost of his suspension could easily run to six figures. That seems ludicrously disproportionate for a ride that caused no offence at the time – quite the opposite, in fact, as the King George was widely acknowledged to be a wonderful advertisement for the sport.
Speculation that Crowley could be facing a lengthy ban prompted Angus Gold, racing manager for Hukum’s owner, Sheikha Hissa al Maktoum, to describe the BHA’s latest attempt to produce a definitive, line-in-the-sand regime on the whip as “an utter disgrace” in Monday’s Racing Post. One can only imagine the language that might have been used if Crowley had appeared to go four strokes over the six-stroke limit rather than three, and the sport had currently been waiting to find out if the WRC would strip Hukum of his victory.
Goodwood 1.40 Lihou 2.15 Alaskan Gold 2.50 Eagle’s Way (nb) 3.25 Haatem 4.00 Isaac Shelby 4.35 Emily Dickinson (nap) 5.05 Good Gracious 5.35 Sophia’s Starlight
Beverley 2.00 Just Hiss 2.35 Grand Duchess Olga 3.10 Expert Choice 3.45 Band Of Joy 4.20 Hey Mr 4.55 First Greyed
Yarmouth 2.25 Streaky Bay 3.00 Loaded Quiver 3.35 Sutue Alshams 4.10 Mc’Ted 4.45 Habanero Star 5.20 Twilight Jazz 5.55 Enchanted Night
Worcester 5.30 King Of Quinta 6.00 Lamanver Storm 6.30 Zoran 7.05 Northern Bound 7.40 Come On Du Berlais 8.10 Cumhacht 8.45 Rubys Reward
Perth 6.20 Park Annonciade 6.50 Champ De Gane 7.25 Presentandcounting 8.00 Czech Her Out 8.30 Izzy’s Champion 9.00 Pateen
Perhaps by coincidence, or perhaps not, the BHA announced some tweaks to the whip rules and penalties on Monday afternoonafter a six-month review of the new regime alongside the Professional Jockeys’ Association and a group of senior riders. The penalty for going one stroke over the limit – six on the Flat, seven over jumps – could be as little as two days if a rider has had 200 rides since a previous whip offence.
Referral for a “totting up” hearing after a series of breaches will now be triggered by four offences in a six-month period, rather than three. The doubling of penalties for Class 2 races will now only apply to those worth £150,000.
The latest tweaks would have made no difference in respect to the King George and there will still be an unfortunate and unnecessary post-script to a fabulous race, above all for Crowley, who is likely to end up with a punishment that is disproportionate to his supposed crime.
But it was also inevitable the BHA would end up in a tricky spot such as this when it decided to take a quantitative, stroke-counting approach to what is often a more subtle, qualitative issue.
Once you set a stroke limit, it is all but certain to decrease over time, as jockeys will always ride up to, and occasionally overstep, the mark. A sudden spate of breaches can then be enough to prompt a review of the rules and a cut in the stroke limit. Once you are down to half a dozen or so, a big hike in the penalties is the only realistic option. From the regulator’s point of view, it is akin to being slowly suffocated by a python, as every struggle to find a way out only tightens the grip.
It is only fair to point out that the BHA is hardly unique in its approach – the stroke limit in France is even lower – but it is a stark contrast to the regime in Hong Kong where they take a similar view on whip abuse to that adopted by the Supreme court Justice Potter Stewart when asked to define hardcore porn: “I know it when I see it.”
From racing’s point of view, perhaps the only positive aspect of the injustice that will apparently be dumped on Crowley is that it will be several days removed from the race itself. The shift away from race-day penalties to a committee handing out whip rulings once or twice a week has at least ensured that Sunday’s headlines included “Hukum edges Westover in classic King George duel”, and not “Whip furore overshadows Hukum win”.
There have already been rumblings from the Professional Jockeys’ Association about the unfairness of the new penalties around whip offences, which include a doubling of the suspension if an offence occurs in a Class 1 or Class 2 race. That is certainly a point that deserves close consideration. It may also be worth pondering how close the sport came to a post-hoc disqualification of the winner, for a ride that caused not one whiff of offence at the time.
Contests like Saturday’s King George are a rare and precious reminder of why so many of usare captivated by horse racing. If Crowley’s winning ride proves to be such an extreme breach of the rules that it merits a 20-day ban and a six-figure fine, then it is the BHA, and not Crowley, that has urgent issues to address.
Goodwood day one tipping preview
Goodwood can be a frustrating place to look for winners at the best of times and softening ground in Sussex will add further uncertainty as the track’s biggest meeting of the year gets under way on Tuesday.
Courage Mon Ami, the Ascot Gold Cup winner, puts his unbeaten record on the line in the Group One Goodwood Cup. John Gosden’s four-year-old improved significantly to beat Coltrane by three-quarters of a length at the royal meeting, with Emily Dickinson, who is also in Tuesday’s field, another four lengths away in third.
Courage Mon Ami’s two runs on turf have been on good-to-firm ground, however. While he has emerged as the stable’s sole contender after the recent rain, that may owe a good deal to a reluctance to run the three-year-old Gregory, a leading St Leger contender, on testing ground. He could yet prove to be as good on soft ground as he clearly is on a quicker surface, but he is a short price at around 9-4.
Aidan O’Brien’s filly Emily Dickinson (4.35) is an interesting alternative. The two-mile trip could be to her liking and she “appears to grow another leg” on soft ground according to Aidan O’Brien, her trainer, so a price of around 11-2 makes plenty of appeal.
Goodwood 2.50 A low draw tips the scales towards Eagle’s Way, who went down narrowly when looking for a five-timer on his return after a 308-day break last time.
Goodwood 3.25 Haatem was no match for City Of Troy at Newmarket last time but can pay a compliment to the 2,000 Guineas favourite against less demanding opponents.
Goodwood 4.00 Kinross is tough and consistent but may not quite have the class of Isaac Shelby, who should appreciate this return to seven furlongs.
