Adrian Heskin shown leniency for whip breaches as panel hears of shoulder agony

Adrian Heskin has been banned for 12 days under totting-up procedures for whip offences – with a further six days suspended for two months – but will be clear to ride at the Cheltenham Festival next month.

The independent judicial panel were asked to take account of "a psychological fear of pain" as a mitigating factor due to Heskin's recent history of shoulder dislocations in the act of using the whip.

Last Saturday Musselburgh stewards referred Heskin's case to the BHA's head office after finding him in breach of the whip rules for the fifth time since his return from shoulder surgery last October.

BHA counsel Lyn Williams pointed out that of those five offences, three had been for hitting horse in the incorrect place.

The recommended range of penalties available to the panel is 14 to 42 days and the BHA argued that deferring a third of the penalty would be appropriate in this case.

Heskin did not contest the findings of raceday stewards who found that two of the three strikes administered to Kiltealy Briggs after the final fence were to the rib and belly area rather than the hind quarters.

Adrian Heskin and Kiltealy Briggs (left) en route to success at Musselburgh last SaturdayCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Acting for Heskin, Rory Mac Neice painted a picture of a well-respected and conscientious professional who "is not a whip jockey" and who "hates the fact that his whip has dropped short".

Mac Neice underlined that during a 13-year career, Heskin had not previously been in trouble for incorrect placement and that the problem was a direct result of psychological fear of dislocating his shoulder through over-extending his arm. He also detailed measures Heskin and his jockey coach have recently put in place.

Heskin put his right shoulder out in the act of using his whip for the first time in 2017 and following a number of repeat dislocations – on each occasion in relation to his whip action and not a fall – underwent six hours of surgery to repair nerve and ligament damage last June.

During the course of his rehabilitation Heskin has worked with Derby and Arc-winning rider John Reid to modify his whip action in order to build confidence post-surgery.

While accepting that the repeat offences deserved "a significant penalty," Mac Neice argued for a ban below the entry point of 21 days for a fifth breach.

Questioned extensively by panel chair Tim Charlton, Heskin said that Reid had attempted to get him to use a shallower angle when reaching behind with the whip, rather than to go for "too big a swing," but admitted he needed to "concentrate on extending his arm further".

'Not through carelessness or any devil-may-care attitude'

The BHA's case for a penalty above the entry level rested on the assertion that the five recent breaches had come during a period of 92 rides at a ratio of one infraction every 18 rides.

Recently Gina Mangan was banned for 24 days under the totting-up procedure, with her ratio of breach to rides coming in at one in every 16.

Williams said that the BHA becomes concerned when the ratio dips below one in a hundred, although Mac Neice countered that such a scale was more relevant to the pattern of rides in Flat racing rather than the life of a jump jockey.

In handing down a judgement he acknowledged was below the entry point, the panel chair told Heskin: "We accept that you are a person who is approaching their problem in a mature and sensible way.

"You have not been guilty of these various breaches of the whip rules because you of any carelessness or any devil-may-care attitude to the whip rule. It has been as a result of both your injury and the retraining which you're attempting in order to get a more serviceable whip action."

Charlton went on to warn Heskin that further breaches of the whip rules would entail more suspensions and told him "you have to succeed" with regard to the re-education of his whip action.

The 12-day ban runs from February 18 to March 1 inclusive.

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