'Changes need to take place' - Cheltenham jockeys react to 'frustrating' false starts and give their views on how to improve them

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Cheltenham Festival races that begin on bends were pinpointed as a key problem by jump jockeys on Saturday in the wake of a string of unsatisfactory starts during jump racing's biggest four days of the season.

False starts were a recurring theme at the meeting for the second year running and were labelled “embarrassing” by seven-time champion jump jockey John Francome.

The BHA announced on Thursday it will review starting procedures at the festival after a number of horses were compromised by messy starts, including Turners Novices' Hurdle favourite No Drama This End, whose trainer Paul Nicholls said “some of them are becoming ludicrous”.

Ben Jones feels the layouts of some of the starts on bends could be improved in order to not compromise the chances of those on the outside.

Ben Jones: "There were a few times when the longer walk-ins were actually much better"Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Jones, who landed the Jack Richards Novices' Handicap Chase on Meetmebythesea, said: “Some of the starts were frustrating. You can’t win a race at the start but you can definitely lose a race. 

“There’s obviously a few changes that need to take place but you also have to be careful and not get too carried away trying to change too many things. 

“A lot of it does come down to jockeys and the starters, but at the end of the day we’re on a half-tonne animal and in a field of 24 runners there’s always going to be one or two who aren’t following the rules. 

“The layout of the starts could be improved. There were a few times when the longer walk-ins were actually much better than when we were circling on the inside of the track and coming out.

“The two-and-a-half-mile start on the inside of the course was a shocker because we were coming around a bend and having to start 50 yards after that. The horse on the outside has no chance compared to the horse on the inside."

Kielan Woods: believes standing starts need to be scrappedCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Kielan Woods believes standing starts should be scrapped in favour of the runners being sent back to walk in from further back.

Woods said: “In Formula 1 terms, they start behind the lines of where they have to be, and if they didn’t have to do that, they’d be camping down at the starts two weeks before. At the festival, if you get down to the start late, all of a sudden you’re out of it and you’re in a position you don’t want to be in.

“At a meeting like Cheltenham, everyone wants to be in the same position. They could make it a bit better, particularly when you’re turning on a really sharp bend, as it’s not fair on the horses on the outside.

“Cheltenham means everything and it can make all the difference having a good start or missing it. The rule that horses aren’t allowed to trot in is stupid, and standing starts need to go. You’d be much better to be sent all the way back and walk in again.”

Sam Twiston-Davies: "There's a lot of pressure for everyone involved at the festival and everyone wants to do well"Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Sam Twiston-Davies is confident a solution will be found and felt the starts on bends presented the biggest challenge.

He said: “It’s tricky because you have a large number of runners in these handicaps. A lot of the two-mile and three-mile starts weren’t too bad, it was the starts on the bends when there wasn’t as much space that were trickier.

“There's a lot of pressure for everyone involved at the festival and everyone wants to do well. Nobody wants to be disappointed and nobody wants to get a bad start.

“The starts are going to be reviewed and I’m sure they'll get feedback from everyone and come up with a nice solution that will help everyone.”

Johnny Burke: thinks jockeys need to work with the startersCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Johnny Burke believes the onus is on the jockeys to work together to ensure the starting process goes smoothly, but is also in favour of the starter using more discretion. 

"It's not a good look for racing," he said after partnering Molten Sea to victory at Kempton on Saturday. "We don't want them to be like that, we want them to be clean and fair. We can't blame anyone. It's competitive racing with a lot of runners. A lot of the starts are on bends, but it's been like that for years, so I'm not saying that's a problem. 

"As a group collectively we have to take a different approach to starting. We need to work with the starters as well as they're doing the best they can. There's 20 to 24 runners circling down at the start and everyone's looking for a position so you're going to get problems, but it's a bad look and we don't want it. I'm sure among us all we'll work hard to try and get it right.

"There probably has to be a bit of leeway and we're probably a bit too rigid at the moment. There has to be a bit of give and take. I'm not saying jockeys should start the races, but the rules are very rigid and after you try once or twice and it doesn't work you're standing – and people don't want that either."

On whether the retirement of a group of senior riders has made a difference to etiquette at the start, he added: "It could have potentially made a difference and there's probably been a shift in age from when you had that era of jockeys, but this year they're just as good. There's great lads and girls in there.

"I think we just have to come together as a group and make it better. We're the ones with the reins and we have controls, but as a group both countries have to come together with something that works."

Read more:

Leading Cheltenham Festival sponsor voices frustration and backs review into chaotic starts 

BHA to review Cheltenham Festival starts following criticism of 'ludicrous' Turners Novices' Hurdle 

'Embarrassing' false starts at Cheltenham Festival should have been tackled ten years ago says John Francome 

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