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07 Oct 11
12:05
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05 Jan 10
David Crosse http://www.lovetheraces.com/voices-of-the-races/william/blog-articles/whip-debate/?voice_tab=blog
Last week took a lot of will power as I had 9 pounds to lose to ride my old favourite Snake Charmer at Fontwell. It's not always worth it but it’s part of the job and this time it turned out to be well worth it, as he won! He did owe me that one after tripping up with a race at his mercy in Newton Abbot a month previously. It was also great to get a winner on my 2nd ride back from my Hernia operation but also on only my 2nd day wearing my new sponsor’s logo, Lovetheraces. In the race itself Snake Charmer travelled ok but his jumping was a bit guessey as he had a few bad experiences recently and as ever took quite a bit of driving which brings me onto the whip debate...
As you all must know by now the amount of times we can hit horses in a race from next Monday has over halved with the penalties being five times tougher! We are now only allowed to smack a horse 8 times in total during a race (5 after the last jump) and if we go one over we get a 5 day ban and we lose our prize money and riding fee for that race, whereas before it would be a caution. Some change in rules! Now, although I can see why the BHA are doing this, I feel this is an extremely harsh penalty and jockeys are going to be the big losers with these new rules. We are the ones in this sport, going out risking our neck everyday (don’t forget it’s the only occupation where you are followed by an ambulance whilst at work) and now if you make one tiny mistake when you are trying your hardest to win a race for the owners and punters, it’ll end up costing you your livelihood.
Let me explain a bit about race riding. When you are in race and your blood is pumping and it’s all about you and your horse getting to the line first, sometimes it’s easy to lose count of how many times you’ve slapped your horse to get there. However, I, like most other jockeys, like to think I know the difference between getting the best out of a horse in a race and beating it too much. Whereas, I am not too sure if the BHA do. You’ve got to remember that we are professionals and we love our horses (that is why we do this job) and we would never want to see a horse being treated cruelly let alone do it to them ourselves!
My win on Snake Charmer last week at Fontwell, under the new rules would have meant that I would have got an 18 day ban. Watch my ride for yourself and see if you think my ride warrants a punishment of 18 days of not being able to work. Imagine if someone took away 18 days of your salary because you tried your best.
Snake Charmer winning at Fontwell http://bit.ly/qjPPoS
Just About winning at Exeter http://bit.ly/nJEPcq
Now this horse is the perfect example of a horse that will struggle to win from next Monday onwards under the new rules, as he needs a strong ride. I am certainly not being cruel, I am proud of the ride I gave the horse, but without the strong encouragement I gave him he would not have won. I am happy to report that Snake Charmer came out of the race fine with no harm done.
If it's a case of one more slap of encouragement to win for what is crap prize money nowadays or a nice holiday where we can't earn any money you are going to see a lot of jockeys not giving horses a proper ride and accepting finishing 2nd. Can this be right? No but it’s going to happen and cause a lot more punters turning their back on racing and us jockeys coming in feeling like we have not done our job properly. Is this what we want? We are all trying to get more people into our great sport, but the BHA have, as Ryan Moore put it, been very weak on this matter and have rushed into a decision. It seems that this decision has been made by non-horsey people and by that I mean people who do not fully understand what it is like to ride in a race. Are these people really in the best position to be making such important decisions about our sport?
I feel very strong about this as it will affect people like myself who are freelance jockeys and need every ride to make a living. The public don’t realise that jockeys work on a freelance basis and we have huge outgoings in order to do our jobs, for example, valets, agents and fuel to put in the car so it's potentially going to cost us money going racing. Can this be right?
A lot of the horses I ride take a lot of encouragement and its people like me who the new rules will effect most. If I was riding for Nicky Henderson or Paul Nicholls who have horses that are better than the rest it would be easier as a lot of them won't even come off the bridal. Yesterday again I won on a horse called Justabout who like Snake Charmer may aswell retire as of next week!!
The bottom line is that the rules take effect as off next week and there is nothing we can do about it. We are going to have to change are styles and accept the punishment if we go over. Win and you get a holiday and no money or finish 2nd and carry on earning??
On a lighter note, as I got a little hot under the collar talking about this subject at our Jockey’s Seminar this week, I had Paddy Brennan telling me that I needed to control my anger. Now when the likes of Paddy says this to you, you need to take note as he is the angriest person I know!!! This is a guy who hears voices during the night and is an insomniac. I'm booked in to see his shrink this week.
Angry Paddy
Ps, milking cows does get you more rides…and winners! G6
Last week took a lot of will power as I had 9 pounds to lose to ride my old favourite Snake Charmer at Fontwell. It's not always worth it but it’s part of the job and this time it turned out to be well worth it, as he won! He did owe me that one after tripping up with a race at his mercy in Newton Abbot a month previously. It was also great to get a winner on my 2nd ride back from my Hernia operation but also on only my 2nd day wearing my new sponsor’s logo, Lovetheraces. In the race itself Snake Charmer travelled ok but his jumping was a bit guessey as he had a few bad experiences recently and as ever took quite a bit of driving which brings me onto the whip debate...
As you all must know by now the amount of times we can hit horses in a race from next Monday has over halved with the penalties being five times tougher! We are now only allowed to smack a horse 8 times in total during a race (5 after the last jump) and if we go one over we get a 5 day ban and we lose our prize money and riding fee for that race, whereas before it would be a caution. Some change in rules! Now, although I can see why the BHA are doing this, I feel this is an extremely harsh penalty and jockeys are going to be the big losers with these new rules. We are the ones in this sport, going out risking our neck everyday (don’t forget it’s the only occupation where you are followed by an ambulance whilst at work) and now if you make one tiny mistake when you are trying your hardest to win a race for the owners and punters, it’ll end up costing you your livelihood.
Let me explain a bit about race riding. When you are in race and your blood is pumping and it’s all about you and your horse getting to the line first, sometimes it’s easy to lose count of how many times you’ve slapped your horse to get there. However, I, like most other jockeys, like to think I know the difference between getting the best out of a horse in a race and beating it too much. Whereas, I am not too sure if the BHA do. You’ve got to remember that we are professionals and we love our horses (that is why we do this job) and we would never want to see a horse being treated cruelly let alone do it to them ourselves!
My win on Snake Charmer last week at Fontwell, under the new rules would have meant that I would have got an 18 day ban. Watch my ride for yourself and see if you think my ride warrants a punishment of 18 days of not being able to work. Imagine if someone took away 18 days of your salary because you tried your best.
Snake Charmer winning at Fontwell http://bit.ly/qjPPoS
Just About winning at Exeter http://bit.ly/nJEPcq
Now this horse is the perfect example of a horse that will struggle to win from next Monday onwards under the new rules, as he needs a strong ride. I am certainly not being cruel, I am proud of the ride I gave the horse, but without the strong encouragement I gave him he would not have won. I am happy to report that Snake Charmer came out of the race fine with no harm done.
If it's a case of one more slap of encouragement to win for what is crap prize money nowadays or a nice holiday where we can't earn any money you are going to see a lot of jockeys not giving horses a proper ride and accepting finishing 2nd. Can this be right? No but it’s going to happen and cause a lot more punters turning their back on racing and us jockeys coming in feeling like we have not done our job properly. Is this what we want? We are all trying to get more people into our great sport, but the BHA have, as Ryan Moore put it, been very weak on this matter and have rushed into a decision. It seems that this decision has been made by non-horsey people and by that I mean people who do not fully understand what it is like to ride in a race. Are these people really in the best position to be making such important decisions about our sport?
I feel very strong about this as it will affect people like myself who are freelance jockeys and need every ride to make a living. The public don’t realise that jockeys work on a freelance basis and we have huge outgoings in order to do our jobs, for example, valets, agents and fuel to put in the car so it's potentially going to cost us money going racing. Can this be right?
A lot of the horses I ride take a lot of encouragement and its people like me who the new rules will effect most. If I was riding for Nicky Henderson or Paul Nicholls who have horses that are better than the rest it would be easier as a lot of them won't even come off the bridal. Yesterday again I won on a horse called Justabout who like Snake Charmer may aswell retire as of next week!!
The bottom line is that the rules take effect as off next week and there is nothing we can do about it. We are going to have to change are styles and accept the punishment if we go over. Win and you get a holiday and no money or finish 2nd and carry on earning??
On a lighter note, as I got a little hot under the collar talking about this subject at our Jockey’s Seminar this week, I had Paddy Brennan telling me that I needed to control my anger. Now when the likes of Paddy says this to you, you need to take note as he is the angriest person I know!!! This is a guy who hears voices during the night and is an insomniac. I'm booked in to see his shrink this week.
Angry Paddy
Ps, milking cows does get you more rides…and winners! G6
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If it's a case of one more slap of encouragement to win for what is crap prize money nowadays or a nice holiday where we can't earn any money you are going to see a lot of jockeys not giving horses a proper ride and accepting finishing 2nd. Can this be right? No but it’s going to happen and cause a lot more punters turning their back on racing and us jockeys coming in feeling like we have not done our job properly.
If the limit was 10 or 15 smacks in what way would he argue differently? Sounds like a good argument for making it zero smacks imo. |
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Now this horse is the perfect example of a horse that will struggle to win from next Monday onwards under the new rules, as he needs a strong ride. I am certainly not being cruel, I am proud of the ride I gave the horse, but without the strong encouragement I gave him he would not have won
If the Snake Charmer race was re-run under the new whip rules the result would almost certainly be the same, unless of course, the other jockeys did not adhere to the new rules (which further reinforces the argument for banning its use altogether) |
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to be honest, Dave is one of those NH jocks who would do better taking some lessons from Yogi Breisner in how to get horses to jump better than being so keen to use the whip every time one makes a mistake..... which is invariably the jock's fault.
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Id have been happier if this rule hadnt have been unilateral though, what impact will this have when we try and translate it to racing abroad??
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always get the impression that the top French based jocks like Lemaire, Mosse, Barzalona, Soumillon etc get their horses balanced and running, and use the whip pretty sparingly. So won't be difficult for them coming here (can't remember one of them giving a horse a beating in England) and hopefully make British based jocks better riders abroad.
The beating Spencer gave Cape Blanco last week was just plain ugly and barbaric. |
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We all know the real reason here lads and that it most of the jocks can barely count to 5! fallon cant even text properly or turn on a pc,holland dosnt know the difference between monopoly money and real cash.and now there being ask to count FFS.
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....It was also great to get a winner on my 2nd ride back from my Hernia operation.
And there was me thinking you didn't have the balls. How wrong can a man be? |
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pedro...agree in principle BUT...
they ride QUALITY horses......the likes of Dave Crosse ride mules and donkeys by comparison. I won a few quid on both of those horses he rode and would not have done if a so called fancy dan jockey had ridden them... The likes of Graham Lee - always guaranteed to give a horse a chance without killing it will be badly affected by these rules whilst the likes of mr bridle timmy murphy wont get highlighted for basically stopping half of his rides from winning... They have taken a bad rule and made it worse.... IMHO should either BAN then altogether...or BAN in entirity AFTER the last fence over the sticks and in the last Furlong on the flat...its not beyond even the bha to paint a line at the furlong pole! |
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Only problem is that if it was down to the BHA it would probably end up being a zig-zag line.
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