New whip rules in Britain throw up ‘stark’ difficulty for riders, says jockeys association
“That’s the nightmare scenario and the one most people thought wouldn’t happen or was certainly very unlikely to happen. The fact it did on the very first week is a big, big wake-up call. Could it happen at Cheltenham? Nobody at this stage could say it couldn’t happen,” said secretary of the Irish Jockeys Association Andrew Coonan.
“Unfortunately, it’s a thing where we can’t do anything about it. It’s a big step into the unknown and there’s no getting away from the fact that it is a point of considerable concern,” said IRTA chief executive Ryan McElligott. That in turn throws open a ludicrous ‘limbo’ situation where the results stands but in a context where a tot of the jockey’s strikes make a result change inevitable.
Another factor is that more stringent suspensions for whip offences risk ruling out riders from the subsequent spring festivals.Fairyhouse’s Easter festival starts on April 8th while Aintree runs from April 13th-15th. Punchestown brings the curtain down on the Irish jumps season from April 25th-29th.
“We’re going to continue to review but the big problem is most riders in Britain have had a four-week bedding in period and obviously our lands haven’t.
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