Pandering to a minority with no interest in racing only ends one way - in oblivion
Another week, another chapter in the racing authorities' propensity for self-inflicted tribulation. This time, it is the unending whip debacle in Britain that has thrust the sport into the mainstream media for all the wrong reasons.
A total of 20 suspensions for 19 jockeys on the eve of the Cheltenham Festival in one fell swoop, a horse disqualified more than a week after the event. Lunar Discovery's DQ came in a routine bumper at Ayr, belatedly changing the result of the race. Wait until these jockeys are riding in a contest that actually matters at places like Cheltenham and inevitable disqualifications are retrospectively altering major race results. It will be carnage.
What is happening to the sport in a country that played such a fundamental role in making it great is sad. I'm not sure how else to describe it at this stage. It's just sad. Going over and over this is tiresome but the BHA seems hell-bent on making the whip a central issue.
Read the full story
Read award-winning journalism from the best writers in racing, with exclusive news, interviews, columns, investigations, stable tours and subscriber-only emails.
Subscribe to unlock
- Racing Post digital newspaper (worth over £100 per month)
- Award-winning journalism from the best writers in racing
- Expert tips from the likes of Tom Segal and Paul Kealy
- Replays and results analysis from all UK and Irish racecourses
- Form study tools including the Pro Card and Horse Tracker
- Extensive archive of statistics covering horses, trainers, jockeys, owners, pedigree and sales data
Already a subscriber?Log in
Published on inRichard Forristal
Last updated
- Racing should take comfort from government support - but don't forget the danger of unintended consequences
- Jockeys are being hit by shambolic whip rules on a daily basis - how sad it took a high-profile DQ to concentrate minds
- The Arc remains pretty darn close to perfect - so can people please stop misguidedly trying to change it
- Time to pulp the paperwork as 'strategic plans' are exposed as vacuous corporate frippery
- Cheltenham Festival changes should help jump racing - but they need to be part of a wider overhaul
- Racing should take comfort from government support - but don't forget the danger of unintended consequences
- Jockeys are being hit by shambolic whip rules on a daily basis - how sad it took a high-profile DQ to concentrate minds
- The Arc remains pretty darn close to perfect - so can people please stop misguidedly trying to change it
- Time to pulp the paperwork as 'strategic plans' are exposed as vacuous corporate frippery
- Cheltenham Festival changes should help jump racing - but they need to be part of a wider overhaul