Horse Welfare Board will suggest changes to whip rules in new year - report

The BHA on Thursday declined to comment on a report suggesting the sport's Horse Welfare Board will make a series of radical suggestions for changes to the whip rules in the new year.

An independent body established by British racing this year, the Horse Welfare Board, of which Flat trainer James Given – who also qualified as a vet – and former sports minister Tracey Crouch are members, is set to propose an urgent consultation on the whip next year.

According to a report published in the Daily Mail, the board will suggest "a range of options including a blanket ban" when it publishes its Horse Welfare Strategy in the new year.

The report also suggested further restrictions to the number of strokes permitted and a ban except for safety and correction would feature among the alternative whip proposals.

Responding to the report, a BHA spokesperson said on Thursday: "The Horse Welfare Board is still working on their welfare strategy and we understand that it will be published in the early part of next year. We will not comment on speculation in the meantime, while the strategy is not yet finalised."

This year Britain's winningmost trainer Mark Johnston launched a passionate defence of the use of the whip, saying its removal would threaten the existence of racing, while in July a spokesman for the BHA confirmed the regulator was "carrying out a significant project to assess data compiled since the last whip review in 2011", which would then be considered by the Horse Welfare Board.

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