Monday 22 December 2014

MONDAY DECEMBER 22, RACING POST 2014. BY DAVID BAXTER AND TONY O'HEHIR "RIDERS UNREPENTANT AFTER WHIP BANS IN LADBROKE. PRESCOTT: " JOCKEY NEED RULES THAT ARE BLACK AND WHITE. "

 
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"Riders unrepentant after whip bans in Ladbroke on Saturday."
By David Baxter and Tony O'Hehir.
JMC: The pic shows that neither of these horses are frightened at all, if anything the horse that gets beat, his expression shows exhaustion. Meaning he has no more to give.  
“ DAVY CONLON and Sam Twiston-Davies yesterday strongly defended their rides in the Ladbroke on Saturday as they reacted to becoming  the latest jockeys punished for overuse of the whip in the closing stages of a high-profile race.
 
“The pair fought out a frantic finish at Ascot, with Conlon holding on by a neck on Bayan. However, his efforts incurred a 15-day suspension and £3,150 fine for using his whip 16 times between the second-last hurdle and the finish. Twiston- Davies was given four days for using his whip ten times after the last on runner-up Pine Creek.
 

“With a difference of more that £50,000 between first and second place prize money in the Ladbroke, there was a clear incentive to strive for first place and Twiston-Davies had no qualms about the result and ban for exceeding the permitted  threshold of eight strikes with the whip.
“He said: there were ten hits and they were all spaced out, as it’s a long run-in. The trouble I had was the horse was responding that little bit more every time I gave him a reminder.
 
“Obviously in a Ladbroke you don’t want to give any quarter and you have to keep going. He got beaten a neck and ran a blinder but sadly wasn’t quite good enough.
“We are all trying our very best. I’ll pay the price by missing four days of racing. And Davy’s got to do the same. That’s what we do for trying to win races, it’s a very competitive sport.”
 
“While admitting he had miscounted when absorbed in the heat of battle. Twiston-Davies argued he was giving his all on behalf of those who employ and back him. He added: “We know the rules very well but sometimes your trying so hard you don’t think about them because your only trying your best for everyone who is involved with the horse and everyone who’s placed a bet on the horse.
 

“Condon, for whom victory was emotional as it was only his third ride back after suffering career threatening injuries from a fall at Cork in August, conceded he was aware in the immediate aftermath he had contravened the rules.
“I knew pulling up I was in trouble, and had gone over the limit, “ he said. “I had to press on early in the straight as Bayan stays well and I didn’t want to play into the hands of horses who had more speed. But Bayan was idling all the time in front and I had to keep the pressure on. “


“Conlon said he was unlikely to lodge an appeal. “Nobody want’s to be made out to be a whip jockey,“ he said, “but I have to accept the rules in Britain are different and that I broke them.
“Misuse of the whip was already at the centre of the agenda in a week when leading Flat trainer Sir Mark Prescott advocated disqualification of those who break the rules, but Twiston-Davies said he was happy with the current system.
 

“The best horse won on the day he argued. “The second- best horse finished second, and the third-best finished third. I think the rules are fair and the stewards are fairly consistent with the way they operate them. There’s always room for change, but at the same time this is my first ban for a few months and hopefully my last for a while. “
“The latest controversy follows Leighton Aspell being given a seven-day ban and £1,800 fine after winning The Hennessy Gold Cup on Many Clouds, while James Doyle was fined £10,000 and banned for seven days when victorious in the Champion Stakes on Noble Mission. "
ENDS:
 
"The rule is going to have to change. "

“Sir Mark Prescott, who last week called for disqualification when riders exceed the threshold for whip strokes, reacted to the Ladbroke Hurdle bans. “

 

“THE bans are particularly unfair on the jockeys. They were doing their best under the rules to win a race,  which is what they are paid to do. Under the rules they can’t lose a race if they exceed the limit. All the first two were doing-each coercing the other-was to exceed the rule.
 
“The winning jockey was beavering away from quite early and the second was coerced into doing it because the other man was doing it.
 

“The BHA is giving jockey’s a rule but saying to them, “It’s up to you if you go over and we’ll let you know afterwards what the penalty will be” . That must be wrong.
 
“It should be black and white. The authorities should name a number of whacks you’re entitled to and It’s up to you if and when you use them, but if you go over the limit you lose the race. Then nobody, particularly in the big races, would break the rule. The bigger the race, the less likely they will be to break it.
 
“The rule is going to have to change at some point and it would be better if it’s done before some major high- profile disaster.


“People will say: “How will punters feel when their horse is disqualified? But it will happen so seldom that it will hardly count and, when it does happen, why should you be beaten by someone who has deliberately broken the rules?
 
“If you weigh in 2lb heavy, you lose the race. If you miss a fence, you lose the race. If the poor trainer hasn’t read the conditions properly, as happened at Wincanton recently, you lose the race.
 

“Why should this be the only rule you can break in order to win a race but cannot lose it? "

 
JMC: If Weatherby’s does not provide the true conditions, clearly stated of each and every race at point of internet entry time on its formal first entry stage step due to an internet fault on Weatherby’s internet page, this cannot be blamed onto someone else.
If you take another horses ground at any point in any race you are causing dangerous interference, to another competitor yet in Britain we have no “Interference Rules” .

 
Can Sir Mark Prescott ride himself to the standard required here? Apparently not. Due to what he says here.
ENDS:

David Baxter brings us news.
 
 “Riders predict alterations are likely to happen. “
“A CHANGE in the existing British whip rules might have to be considered, according to leading Irish jockey Bryan Cooper.
 
“A regular rider at the biggest jumps meetings in Britain and Ireland, Cooper’s used to the pressures of riding for substantial prize-money, although he was unable to offer a solution to the issue of jockeys winning despite flouting the rules.
 
“He said: “They probably do need to have another look, although its hard to know what they can do. The two horses involved in the finish at Ascot on Saturday kept responding and in view of what Davy {Condon} has been through in recent months, a 15-day ban and such a hefty fine seemed a bit harsh. “
“Tom Scudamore said he believed the rules work well but conceded further high-profile incidents could make a change inevitable.
 
“He said: “I think the rules have been working fine as they are and compared to where we were three years ago. If you change the whip rules and horses can get disqualified it muddies the water – it could lead to jockeys getting sued and you don’t want that to happen.
“You also have to understand these big races can make or break a jockey’s career. Another concern is the bad press when it is jumped on by the nationals, and it takes away from the winner and his achievements. “The more it happens the more likely something is going to be done about rules. ENDS
 
J Margaret Clarke Turfcall Factfile
 
JMC: CONLON’S KEY STATEMENT HERE  “I had to press on early in the straight as Bayan stays well and I didn’t want to play into the hands of horses with more speed. But Bayan was idling all the time in the front and I had to keep the pressure on.This statement brings this whole matter into true perspective fast. These 9 words. 
In idling Bayan was telling Conlon that should be fast enough,  maybe it was, or would have been at home, but for the money involved, the reason for Conlon giving Bayan his hurry up message. When any true rider-jockey is partnering a racehorse in a race like this, a rider does not need to distract himself from the job in hand, if he is to win this race, the very last thing a rider needs to do is loose concentration with his horse through starting counting ... it is the horse who conveys to the rider what is needed not the bloodhorse illiterate stewards sitting in the warm indoors.
 
Lee Mottershead brings feature today page 7 “Adopt French prize-money split to raise field size”  – Venetia  Williams suggests what can help.  Yes, yes, yes and why ever not.
The Rules of horseracing around the world need to be the same.  The present set up is ridiculous, dreadfully unfair to the horses and the jockeys, and the trainer teams and the owners. True horseracing rules need to protect the racehorses themselves and all the people who work with them every day. You never see the yearly Wimbledon World Tennis Tournament having different rules from all the other countries.
 
 
 


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