RACING POST THURSDAY FEBRUARY 23rd 2012
RACING POST WEEK MONDAY FEBRUARY 20th TO SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26th 2012
TODAY'S CARDS: Huntingdon. Lingfield Park. Southwell. Kempton Park.
Thurles and Meydan.
LATEST ON NEW WHIP RULES, PLUS TRAINER AND JOCKEY REACTION p 2-5
We can see the true thread of join-up bloodhorse literacy weaving it’s fragile way throughout the history of horseracing ….We can observe today through various equine sport that horseracing takes its place among these.
GRAHAM LEE now sidelined through injury is one of the finest true bloodhorse literate horseman there is at present.
(handler join-up jump rider)
RP "Q: Who knows how to define a permissible stroke of the whip?
RP "A: Nobody knows yet
"Yes or no. In cases where it is unclear whether the whip has made contact it will be down to the racecourse panels to use discretion and common sense but guidelines have still to be finalised. " JMC Turfcall. Are the racecourse panels bloodhorse literate? Or are the racecourse panels bloodhorse illiterate? Or perhaps the racecourses and the BHA panels haven't realised there is such a thing as bloodhorse literacy? The jockeys must be incredibily naive if believing after all that has gone on since October things are now sorted.
THE THREAD OF TRUE JOIN-UP BLOODHORSE LITERACY WORLD WIDE. Where did it come from ….? Where is it now …..? And where is it going too …… ?
THE TRUE KEY JOIN-UP INGREDIENT of all horseracing around the world is bloodhorse literacy. It is estimated that 95% of all those who have attempted to achieve true join- up bloodhorse literacy world wide fail. There are distinct levels of failure. Just as there are distinct levels along the road to achieving bloodhorse literacy.
We can see that British join-up Jump Turf Racing demands the highest true skill of all from the horse and rider partnership in horseracing.
British Turf Chasing demands the greatest skill from the horse and rider partnership, galloping at racing pace, jumping over around 20 large formidable fences with possibly 20 or more other competitors around you in the chase, out to score. A tricky and possibly the most dangerous and deadly scenario. "Have you heard the story of Charlie Day, who died disputing his right of way? He was right quite right as he raced along, but he’s just as dead as if he was dead wrong .
GRAHAM LEE now sidelined through injury is one of the finest true bloodhorse literate horseman there is at present.
(handler join-up jump rider)
BRITISH HORSERACING badly needs to move on, to concentrate to ensure far higher standards of true bloodhorse literacy are met.
Britain needs bloodhorse illiterate regulators like a
hole in the head.
Horses like everyone else need treating with respect.
BRUCE MILLINGTON COMMENT page 5
"STEWARDS are going to have to grasp the interpretations of the various different types of connection between whip and hide, and so are jockeys'.
BHA has much to answer over fourth amendment.
"TO ANNOUNCE you're going to change the rules before deciding exactly what those rules actually are going to be is a funny way for the governing body of a major sport to carry on, but that's exactly what's happening with take four of the BHA's attempt to bring about acceptable reforms to the way jockeys use their whips.
"On Tuesday it was revealed that jockeys who hit their horses more than seven times in Flat races or more than eight times in jump races will no longer receive automatic bans but that such acts will in future prompt the stewards to look at such rides and decide whether to hand out a suspension.
JMC Only one rider can ride a horse so only one person will ever know what is best to do at the time ....
"Which begs the obvious question: What is an acceptable extra hit and what isn't? The BHA's answer, as things stand, is - we don't know because we haven't decided?
"The criteria for what will be deemed permissible and what won't are to be, if you'll pardon the pun, thrashed out during talks over the next ten days, after which stewards and, one hopes, jockeys will be put in the picture.
"Herein lies the problem though. How clear will that picture be? It is going to take monumentally deft phraseology to be able to portray with clarity the difference between a corrective hit, a blatantly coercive one, a strike used for safety, one used to wake up a horse after a sloppy jump, a bid to snap a horse out of a mid-race flat spot, a backhand slap, a forehand one, a rhythmic series of taps, and so on.
"Stewards are going to have to grasp the interpretations of the various different types of connection between whip and hide, and so are jockeys.
"It is hoped the BHA can conjure up such a set of instructions so crisply constructed that the penny drops with stewards and riders alike and everyone knows precisely where they stand. If that happens the Racing Post will lead the applause.
"A likelier outcome is that well-intentioned attempts to allow common sense to apply will actually have the effect of creating grey areas, inconsistency, rancour and prolong the saga of negativity that is the whip issue.
"It is difficult to see how all the sets of stewards will interpret whip use in the same way, meaning Jockey A gets banned at Newton Abbot for something he believes he saw Jockey B get off for at Taunton the previous day The air will be thick with cries of "there's no consistency".
"The other big question is why was the BHA in such a rush to get this version of the whip rules announced? We know the answer to that. It was keen to assure people there was no danger of the whip row overshadowing the Cheltenham Festival.
"How big a danger was there of that happening though? Very little, in reality. There have been whip bans at the festival since 1980, notorious for the antics of Joe Byrne and Tommy Ryan, have they come close to overshadowing the meeting.
"Why would they? The festival is about heroic deeds by the best horses. Jockeys' bans are generally footnotes on the end of reports.
"Certain members of the media will give the whip issue more attention this year but none would be so ill-judged as to believe another World Hurdle victory for BIG BUCK'S would have to play second fiddle to the aggrieved reaction of a jockey who had been told he wouldn't be able to ride at Ludlow or Lingfields and the like for a few days due to over-zealous whip use.
"The BHA deserves credit for having realised whip use was a problem that needed addressing, but to bring out four amendments to the rules in four months represents strikingly week leadership, and there isn't even a clear feeling within the sport that this time they've nailed it."
END
BLOODSTOCK WORLD
RICHARD GRIFFITHS "BREEDERS' CUP HERO ROYAL ACADEMY DIES AGED 25.
JMC Beautiful pic of ROYAL ACADEMY seen with TOM MAGNIER and his son CHARLIE in Australia
"ROYAL ACADEMY who provided the out of retirement
LESTER PIGGOTT
with the most satisfying winner I ever rode' in a memorable Breeders' Cup Mile in 1990, has died aged 25 at Coolmore Australia
"One of the last links to the great NIJINSKY, and his equally legendry trainer Vincent O'Brien, the $3.5 million yearling was described as a 'tremendous servant to Coolmore' by Tom Magnier, who is based in Australia .
GREAT RACING WALKS PETER THOMAS takes us to sample winter in Newmarket
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