JOCKEYS IN Britain have called off a strike set for Monday over a dispute about recently introduced curbs on the use of the whip, following a talks proposal from the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).
Jockeys complain that penalties introduced last week are too harsh.
Under the changes, a whip can be used seven times during a flat race, or eight times during a National Hunt race and no more than five times in the last furlong in both – slightly more than half the old limits.
Jockey Richard Hughes announced that he was giving up his riding licence after he received a second ban under the new rules at Kempton on Thursday, which will put him out of racing for 15 days.
In protest, jockeys were set to refuse rides at meetings at Windsor and Pontefract on Monday, but jockey Sophie Doyle, who was suspended for 11 days on Friday for hitting her horse nine times, last night wrote on Twitter: “We have postponed protest as BHA have agreed for a meeting Monday.”
Speaking before the talks announcement, top Irish jockey Ruby Walsh said he would support a strike: “It is a competitive sport. The edge has to remain in a race.”
Supporting curbs on use of the whip, Walsh said the restrictions are difficult to manage when a horse is going flat out. “They are trying to make black and white something that is grey,” said the jockey.
The dispute centres on the penalties imposed under the horseracing authority rules.
The previous minimum penalty has been abolished and replaced by a minimum five-day suspension, while the penalties are doubled for subsequent offences.
In addition, a rider who is banned forfeits riding fees and share of the prize money. But jockeys are angry at the harsh penalties for “relatively minor” infringements.
Between 2004 and April 2011, there were 5,202 offences under the old rules from 691,000 rides in the UK, according to figures produced by the authority.
Even jockeys who previously supported the changes, including AP McCoy, have now called for concessions. “I’m all on for punishing people who look to be abusing horses, or look to be abusing the rules. It’s not about whether the rules are right or wrong, it’s about the structure of the penalties and things need to be tweaked,” he said.
