‘All you can think about is that smell’ - the shocking conditions inside Britain’s weighing rooms revealed

 The Racing Post today exposes the appalling state of some of Britain’s weighing room facilities, which in one extraordinary example has seen jockeys reduced to working out on an exercise bike placed next to a row of urinals.

Jockeys have lost patience with the speed of progress made in upgrading weighing rooms to agreed acceptable standards and have spoken to the Racing Post to highlight serious issues with the conditions they face at certain racecourses.

These include ongoing problems with damp and mould, limited availability of hot water, dangerous placement of equipment and cramped or inadequate facilities for female jockeys. One rider said the standard of facilities reflected a sport that "doesn't treat us like professional athletes".

Mould at Uttoxeter last year prior to a PJA complaint

As a result, the Professional Jockeys Association (PJA) is now calling for the BHA to make it a condition of a course's licence that it meets the agreed standards for weighing room facilities by the end of next year.

Jumps rider Conor O’Farrell explained the background to the shocking image of Champion Hurdle-winning rider Lorcan Williams warming up on a bike placed next to a set of urinals at Bangor.

"It's between the urinals and the toilet cubicle in an area that smells of urine," he said. "You're at your minimum weight, you're sweating and thirsty but all you can think about is that smell. I don't know if degrading is the right word but for the course to permit that to happen is so unprofessional.

"There are two bikes at Bangor but the other one is in a narrow 'S'-shaped walkway that leads to the scales. If you use that bike you have people constantly walking past you, asking questions. When you're sweating and trying to do weight, you want to get into your own headspace. It's not like you get left alone when you're on the bike in the toilet, either, because everyone needs to pee. 

"I was told by the course there was nowhere else to put the bikes but there is enough room out the back of the weighing room to put in a modular building or even a sealed-off tent."

Jockeys have also outlined numerous other grievances about run-down or inappropriate facilities to the Racing Post:

• Female riders report they still need to regularly enter the men's changing room in order to have the same level of access to valets as their male counterparts
• Multiple examples of issues with mould and flaking paint that have only been addressed once raised by the PJA
• Washing machines installed next to showers, creating an electrical and fire risk
• Intermittent or limited hot water, while one track produces "scaldingly hot" water in summer
• A female jockeys' changing room described as no bigger than a broom cupboard

Hayley Turner, who retired from the saddle last weekend, feels it is a “shame” that jockeys have now felt the need to publicise their complaints about weighing room facilities but wishes they had done it a lot sooner.

She told the Racing Post: "I rode as a jockey for 20 years and I did a lot of whinging in that time but nothing ever seems to get done. 

"I don't know how racecourses get away with it. I've written letters to the BHA, pleading for change, and I partly blame the BHA for the fact things are still so bad. Jockeys have to go through so much to get a licence, as do trainers, but it feels like racecourses get passed fit for a licence having met standards that are incredibly low.

The sign warning jockeys of a "warm water shortage"

Paint flaking off the walls at Kelso

Kelso has had damp, mouldy walls in the female area

"The courses are getting away with it because the BHA is letting them get away with it. If courses don't meet a standard that ought to be higher than it is now, they shouldn't be allowed to race."

Turner added: "It's a shame we've had to resort to publicly embarrassing courses but I wish we had done it before now. I spent my whole career protecting and promoting racing. I always tried to do and say the right things but there's only so much you can do without getting a bit of help back."

The PJA’s racing director Dale Gibson echoed Turner's concerns.

"There seems to be one rule for the racecourses and another rule for the participants," he said. "Jockeys and trainers have to jump through numerous hoops to get a licence but if a course can't afford to upgrade a weighing room facility because it doesn't have a commercial return, it still gets a licence.”

In November 2021, racing’s senior stakeholders agreed a deadline of October 2024 for Britain’s courses to complete work that was needed to bring jockeys’ facilities up to an acceptable standard. Among the objectives were to improve the quality of changing rooms, communal relaxation spaces and warm-up facilities, and to create a shared valet area at every course. Although 15 tracks have completed those modernisation projects, the vast majority missed the deadline and some do not expect to be finished until 2030.

Gibson believes that is wholly inadequate and has called on the BHA to use its licensing powers to require all venues to have finished the statutory upgrades by the end of 2026, which would still be two years and two months later than first envisaged.

The exercise bike at Ludlow in the changing room's warm-up area

The shower at a major all-weather track

A bench for the jockeys more suited to a school assembly

An exercise bike among the mess

"I think we have been more than patient,” he said. “We urge the Jockey Club, Arena Racing Company and all others to fast-track the extended timeline at all remaining venues. I don't think we are being unreasonable in our firm belief that there has to be a deadline linked to annual licensing by the BHA. From January 1, 2026, it should be a licensing requirement that all venues need to be fully compliant by the end of 2026."

Gibson is quick to praise those courses that have finished the work. Beverley, Brighton, Fakenham, Leicester, Musselburgh, Newmarket's July course, Newton Abbot, Pontefract, Southwell, Stratford, Ripon, Taunton, Warwick, Worcester and York have all completed necessary upgrades to a high standard. 

However, while the Jockey Club and Arc have tracks in that list, the sport's two largest racecourse groups missed the 2024 deadline at many of their courses. Indeed, work at three Jockey Club tracks – Huntingdon, Market Rasen and Wincanton – is not forecast to be concluded until 2030, by which time many current jockeys will have ended their riding careers.

Warwick is among the racecourses that have already modernised facilities used by jockeys

BHA head of raceday officials Cathy O’Meara sits on the cross-industry group that has been overseeing the weighing room project. 

She said: "We know that where weighing rooms have already been upgraded, the new layout works well and the feedback has been positive. This is something that needs to be replicated at pace across Britain – and everyone with a stake in the project has a positive part to play in supporting this effort.

"Funding has been made available by the Levy Board to support racecourses through a loan scheme, while the weighing room approvals group continues to meet fortnightly. In the meantime, the BHA, PJA and Racecourse Association have agreed interim requirements in weighing rooms where the upgrade work is yet to be completed which ensure that jockeys of all genders have access to essential services like the valets, medical room, canteen and rest areas.

"If anyone is aware of any examples where these interim measures are not being followed in line with the requirements, we ask that these are reported directly to the BHA – through the BHA stewards on course or via racecourseops@britishhorseracing.com – so that they can be addressed swiftly."

Louise Stewart, chief executive of the Chester Race Company that runs Chester and Musselburgh as well as Bangor, responded to the image of Williams riding an exercise bike in the toilets by insisting no formal complaint had been made to management about the bike and that it would only be used in the toilet due to space restrictions.

"The bike is not meant to be in the toilet and has never been set up to be there," said Stewart. "We try to place it in the changing area but know jockeys sometimes move it into the toilets because there is a lack of space at Bangor and we acknowledge it's not ideal to use the bike in the changing room, especially if it's busy. 

"Nobody would expect an athlete to use a bike in a toilet, so we'll come up with an alternative, but there has to be an understanding that it won't be in the main building because there is no space.

"We are fully supportive of the PJA wanting to move forward quickly and have already completed the work at Musselburgh. Nobody wants our athletes to have substandard accommodation and we take the weighing room issue seriously. We are working as fast as we can and any feedback is valuable."

Jockeys riding at Bangor on Saturday will discover how the bike problem is being tackled. O'Farrell, like Gibson and Turner, believes the BHA must take a tougher stance on those courses failing to deliver acceptable levels.

"On a professional level we are so far behind other sports," said O'Farrell. "I don't think it's fair that the public holds us to the standard of professional athletes when the sport doesn't treat us like professional athletes.

"I think it all boils down to who is in charge. The BHA should be ensuring courses provide acceptable standards for the sport's athletes. If a course doesn't reach a set standard by a set date, its licence should be revoked."

From 6pm on Thursday, read about how female jockeys are bearing the brunt of the lack of progress

Read these next:

Special report part two: The shocking state of female changing rooms dubbed 'racing's dirty secret' 

Tom Marquand: 'People will think the photo of a jockey on a bike next to the toilets is a one-off - but it's really not' 

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