A blow for fans of transparency, ruled out of action after a whip-related setback

It was a surprise, I must admit, when we were told in the first week of January that the BHA was aiming at a modicum of transparency during the bedding-in period for the whip rules. A few years back, I claimed that racing's ruling body had a "reflexive love of secrecy" and there has been no subsequent glasnost-style commitment to openness as far as I can see.

Hence the raised eyebrow when a BHA briefing note about bedding-in plans said: "We will, in interests of transparency, provide details of the numbers of riders who have been informed that their ride would have been in breach of the new rules". These numbers were to be published after the weekly meeting of the brand spanking new Whip Review Committee (WRC).

It was a keen, ambitious thing to promise, bearing in mind the WRC had only just been summoned into existence and was yet to meet for the first time. It was clear from backstage conversations that the committee's members did not know, for example, how much time they would need to get through their weekly workload.