Sir Mark Prescott: 'I've held that view for a long time and I don't change it'

Sir Mark Prescott has always been an advocate of disqualification for overuse of the whip, but he thinks the recommendations included in the BHA Whip Consultation Steering Group paper published on Tuesday do not go far enough.

The Newmarket trainer, along with many of his colleagues, has benefited from the previous system, where horses who have exceeded the seven strikes limit on the Flat kept the race, but does not think it was right. And while he approves of some of the recommendations outlined, as regards disqualification, the master of Heath House thinks one strike over should be enough for the rule to be implemented.

Prescott said: "I've always felt that it's simplicity itself. The rule is perfectly good as we've got it, but you just enforce it and if a jockey goes over the limit they should just lose the race. I've held that view for a long time and I don't change it. The report they kindly sent yesterday was 98 pages long, but I think it could have been done in half a page, but it's obviously more complex than I realise."

On the outlawing of using the whip in the forehand position, he added: "I think the changing to the backhand is probably a good thing, but they've kept the number of strikes, or whatever they call it, the same. But all you have got to do is enforce the rule. You've got a good rule so enforce it which seems as if it too simple to do for some people."

There is a big debate under way regarding the new whip recommendationsCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

If the 20 recommendations are brought in this autumn, Prescott will just get on with it. He said: "In future I'll take it on the chin if one of mine is disqualified, but on the whole I've found jockeys are very good at counting. If they knew the rule was going to be enforced, no-one would break them except a maniac. Why should a horse finish second to one who's broken the rules? I just can't understand it.

"I admit I have benefited from horses being allowed to keep the race in the past, as have many others, but it doesn't make it right. It's so simple.

"Now if you overdo it by four then you lose the race, but why four? All we need is a simple limit and if you break it you lose the race."

Prescott also takes issue with the difference between codes. He said: "Why is it seven whacks on the Flat and eight for jump racing? Whoever thought of that I can't imagine – why not just make it the same? If it's too much under one code it's too much under the other, and over jumps they're getting more weary and are being hit by bigger people."

Read these next:

Backhand whip use only and disqualification to be introduced in new whip rules

'I was dreading it but it's common sense' – Willie Carson on the new whip rules

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