RACING POST FRIDAY FEBRUARY 24th 2012
RACING POST WEEK MONDAY FEBRUARY 20th TO SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26th 2012
TODAY'S CARDS Sandown Park. Warwick Lingfield Park Wolverhampton . Dundalk . Towcester greyhounds page 73
GET YOUR RACING POST IN THE MORNING YOU WON'T BE DISSAPOINTED
RODNEY MASTERS "HANAGAN THE MAN FOR HAMDAN JOB
"Dual champion to take over from Hills but will maintain Fahey link.
"DUEL Flat champion jockey Paul Hanagan was signed yesterday for the coveted job as Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum's first rider but he stressed he will not be severing his link with long-term mentor Richard Fahey.
"Hanagan, 31, who has won the title for the first two seasons, will succeed the soon-to-retire Richard Hills
"His appointment means Britain 's top two jockeys will be on the move from Yorkshire to Newmarket
"I wouldn't be in this position but for Richard (Fahey) and when I went to his home on Wednesday evening to tell him about the job it was emotional for both of us.
"I could see from his reaction that he was disappointed in one respect but delighted for me. We've been together for 17 years and he always had faith in me. I must stress I will be riding for Richard when available. The team isn't splitting up."
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HOWARD WRIGHT "DISCRETION COULD BE WEAK LINK
IN NEW WHIP RULES."
"FINGERS crossed it's fourth time lucky said Christopher Spence, wise old owl and former Jockey Club senior steward at a time when his organisation set the standards, on the 'new' new whip rules.
"Very true, but when did the framing of regulation also come with reliance on a signal which mixes hope and desperation in equal measures?
"It was more difficult than we could have imagined, said Richard Hughes, whose early support for the exact number of times that jockeys could use the whip disappeared when he was required to put it into practice.
"An interesting admission, but should inability to play to new rules be an underlying criterion for changing them again and again?
"There are clear examples of where jockeys have made every effort to ride within the new rules but have simply made an honest mistake, said Paul Struthers, former BHA employee and member of the original whip review team, but now batting for the other side as recently installed chief executive of the jockeys' trade body.
"An admirable clear example of adapting to the needs of serving new master, but, as in the case of Hughes's remarks, should over-arching regulation be compiled to take account of mistakes, honest or otherwise?
"Mistakes are a matter of interpretation; one man's idea of a mistake can be another's palpable error of judgement. Who should decide? When the 'new' new rules are finally put together, it will be the racecourses' stewards and BHA disciplinary panel, and therein lurks potential danger after this week's third climbdown.
"Common sense has prevailed, say supporters of the latest framework, which fully takes account of the jockeys' concerns about penalties and prize-money deductions.
"Yet they will soon be forced to rely on the application of commom sense by those with the job of administering the rules.
"Going back almost to square one-amending the trigger numbers is the only remaining option for the status quo to apply - will reinstall discretion to the adjudicators' armoury and common sense will once again be asked to prevail, but probably on a more regular basis.
"Yet, as soon as discretion enters the arena of regulation, one man's idea of common sense becomes another's cry of inconsistency. There is more to come on this subject and not all of it will be favourable to racing as a whole.
"Going back almost to square one-amending the trigger numbers is the only remaining option for the status quo to apply - will reinstall discretion to the adjudicators' armoury and common sense will once again be asked to prevail, but probably on a more regular basis.
"Yet, as soon as discretion enters the arena of regulation, one man's idea of common sense becomes another's cry of inconsistency. There is more to come on this subject and not all of it will be favourable to racing as a whole.
"And so to trainer Ferdy Murphy's observation that the BHA is a headless chicken.
"That might have been the case since the first new whip rules were introduced, as acting chief executive Chris Brand prepared to leave the seat he had kept warm after Nic Coward's retreat back to football. But not any more, it seems.
"Paul Bittar has made an instant mark, apparently with little reference to the main architects of the original regulatory changes, Jamie Stier and Tim Morris, whose credibility is consequently weakened, and none at all to elements of the review other than the jockeys, whose position in this issue at least has taken precedence over other bodies that would normally have expected to make a contribution.
"This is BHA leadership 2012. Like it or not."
END
END
JIM McGRATH, COMMENT.
VIEWPOINT IN AND OUT OF THE SADDLE "WHIP REMEDY IS EASY - DITCH THE NEW RULES NOW."
Jim says "The BHA has backed itself into a corner and sadly the agonising is set to continue.
"THE suspensions incurred last week by Nicky Mackey and Tony McCoy for what were essentially sound, effective rides inevitably brought the whip rules back into the headlines. However, publication of the Grand National weights, sandwiched in between, meant in effect that the same topic dragged racing to new depths, as one of our leading bookmakers opened a market on whether this year's winning Aintree rider will incur a ban over use of the whip.
"As the unjust suspensions and fines imposed on jockeys continues our sport has evidently reached a stage where the subject is now a new 'exotic' . What next, the first rider to 50 days and five grand?
"I still do not understand the reasons why the rules were changed.
" Was it the case to those responsible for running our sport that the way our jockeys rode was no longer defensible?
"Was racing so far out of kilter with the way the general public perceived animal husbandry that such dramatic and controversial revisions were necessary?
END
J MARGARET CLARKE TURFCALL
Part of Jim McGrath comment RP Monday February 20th
The penalties imposed upon jockeys from the outset Champions Day last October by the BHA regulators are totally ridiculous, dragged out of the dark ages. Is this the best that British horseracing regulation can come up with?
Ghastly wouldn't even come near this.
Ferdy Murphy's observation that he sees the BHA as headless chickens.
JMC Ferdy Murphy is spot on with the likeness he portrays the BHA to be like 'headless chicken' exactly right, couldn't put it better myself.
How about taking a closer look at the life and times of bloodhorse literate achiever Ferdy Murphy, his contribution to horseracing is massive, he has given his all, for what ..... to be treated any old how by the bloodhorse illiterate British Horseracing Authority.
http://www.turfcall2-racingpost.blogspot.com/2012/02/racing-post-monday-february-20th-2012.html
END
Part of Jim McGrath comment RP Monday February 20th
The penalties imposed upon jockeys from the outset Champions Day last October by the BHA regulators are totally ridiculous, dragged out of the dark ages. Is this the best that British horseracing regulation can come up with?
Ghastly wouldn't even come near this.
Ferdy Murphy's observation that he sees the BHA as headless chickens.
JMC Ferdy Murphy is spot on with the likeness he portrays the BHA to be like 'headless chicken' exactly right, couldn't put it better myself.
How about taking a closer look at the life and times of bloodhorse literate achiever Ferdy Murphy, his contribution to horseracing is massive, he has given his all, for what ..... to be treated any old how by the bloodhorse illiterate British Horseracing Authority.
All jockeys need to accurately concentrate upon the job in hand from the time they are legged up in the parade ring until they dismount after a race. Any and all further distractions are surplus to requirements. Jockeys cannot do two jobs all at the same time to suit only the regulators.
Jim asks "Was racing so far out of kilter .....
JMC British racing regulation is so far out of kilter words fail me ... http://www.turfcall2-racingpost.blogspot.com/2012/02/racing-post-monday-february-20th-2012.html
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