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26 Oct 11
09:23
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05 Jan 10
By Richard Forristal
Wednesday independent.ie
JOHNNY MURTAGH yesterday became the latest high-profile Irish jockey to announce that he will ride less frequently in Britain as a result of the controversial new whip rules.
On the day that Ruby Walsh lodged a formal appeal against the five-day ban that he incurred at Aintree last Saturday -- which rules him out of the Grade One JNwine.com Champion Chase at Down Royal next weekend -- Murtagh said his boss John Oxx has advised against him competing at "ordinary meetings" in Britain.
"These are bad rules introduced for the wrong reasons," an irate Murtagh said.
"I cannot risk these bans when I go over to Britain. You won't see me in the lead up to major meetings like Royal Ascot and races like the Derby any more. I'll probably draw a line at Group races only. It's too risky. I can't be picking up five-day bans or worse for committing minor riding offences."
Murtagh's decision to condemn the new rules and sanctions follows Walsh's declaration that he will be increasingly selective about which UK meetings he attends in his role as Paul Nicholls' stable jockey.
With former champion jump jockeys Paul Carberry and Barry Geraghty having expressed similar concerns in recent days, pressure will continue to mount on the British Horseracing Authority if so many of the game's top riders feel compelled to boycott the day-to-day racing.
The threat of a jockeys' strike remains a distinct possibility, with the severity of the sanctions and the limit of eight strikes that are permitted in jumps races, two of the main points of protest.
Walsh, who skipped Chepstow yesterday and has also ruled himself out of Wetherby on Friday, went over the limit by one when getting Edgardo Sol home by a nose at Aintree and a repeat offence would trigger a 10-day exclusion.
Wednesday independent.ie
JOHNNY MURTAGH yesterday became the latest high-profile Irish jockey to announce that he will ride less frequently in Britain as a result of the controversial new whip rules.
On the day that Ruby Walsh lodged a formal appeal against the five-day ban that he incurred at Aintree last Saturday -- which rules him out of the Grade One JNwine.com Champion Chase at Down Royal next weekend -- Murtagh said his boss John Oxx has advised against him competing at "ordinary meetings" in Britain.
"These are bad rules introduced for the wrong reasons," an irate Murtagh said.
"I cannot risk these bans when I go over to Britain. You won't see me in the lead up to major meetings like Royal Ascot and races like the Derby any more. I'll probably draw a line at Group races only. It's too risky. I can't be picking up five-day bans or worse for committing minor riding offences."
Murtagh's decision to condemn the new rules and sanctions follows Walsh's declaration that he will be increasingly selective about which UK meetings he attends in his role as Paul Nicholls' stable jockey.
With former champion jump jockeys Paul Carberry and Barry Geraghty having expressed similar concerns in recent days, pressure will continue to mount on the British Horseracing Authority if so many of the game's top riders feel compelled to boycott the day-to-day racing.
The threat of a jockeys' strike remains a distinct possibility, with the severity of the sanctions and the limit of eight strikes that are permitted in jumps races, two of the main points of protest.
Walsh, who skipped Chepstow yesterday and has also ruled himself out of Wetherby on Friday, went over the limit by one when getting Edgardo Sol home by a nose at Aintree and a repeat offence would trigger a 10-day exclusion.
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Replies: 19
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How many punters/racegoers actually care whether Murtagh rides here or not?
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I certainly do. Racing is a sport, and riders like Soumillion, Murtagh, Walsh, Geraghty are world class. It is a loss to racing in this country that they wont becoming as often.
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Barton Bank: Would i care if Johnny Murtagh was riding in the uk in a big race...Not really...But then would you go to watch Manchester United or whoever and watch a premiership game with a team that consists of 2 maybe 3 first team players and 8 or 9 3rd team players.. Definitely not. You want to see the best players play when you go there the same when you want to see the best jockeys riding when you go to watch group racing.
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Barton Bank - a very ignorant post.
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No, it was a question.
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I've always kept an eye on times where a small trainer books a big name foreign jockey as a pointer to whether they are plotting one up or as an assessment of that runner's chances and it will be a lot harder to spot these kind of things if those jockeys stop coming over and a lower profile jockey is booked instead.
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Personally I've never been persuaded to attend a race meeting simply because a certain jockey was riding (and that includes when Lester was riding too). On the other hand, I have attended a meeting just to see a particular horse run.
I like Murtagh as a jockey as I feel that he, alongside Dettori and Hanagan, is less likely than most to feck things up. Never mind though, when Murtagh does turn up for rides at anything other than the big festivals, I'll assume that he thinks he has a serious chance and, if I fancy whatever he's on, bet accordingly. |
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When they book these foreign jockeys do they just get the normal riding fee ? its all cloak and daggers to me put a name up and lay it to hell or high heaven its still got no chance but these silly bggers don't know
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If I attend a race meeting which is very rare these days I'm not going because some supposed superior jockeys are riding, I go to try and back a few winners, who's riding what makes not one iota of a difference to me, its afterall called "horse" racing not jockey racing!, the best horse will usually win no matter who's on top.
I remember getting into this sport first back in the 80's and I was told this jockey was brilliant and that jockey was fantastic after a few years of youthful blind loyalty to some of these jockeys I soon realised backing any jockey regardless of his supposed superiority was the quickest way to the poor house, so in the intervening years I learned to let the form book do the talking, I never factor in the jockey only in extreme cases when I'm having a bet, in fact these top jockeys mounts are often overbet and priced up accordingly by the bookmakers and often represent poor value. Racing has plenty of capable riders and that includes the journeymen, your parentage or been in the right place at the right time often determines who rides at the top of the tree. Yes some jockeys are better than others but the difference they make is miniscule, if the horse can't run Jesus Christ couldn't make it run any faster. Speaking of Murtagh since when did Murtagh ever come over to Britain for ordinary races?. |
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Spot on Barton . Who cares whether these people ride over here ever again. I think they shouls stay put forever. They forget there are always good riders in the wings to fill their boots . Its a fact and that is life when the old brigade move over others will take their place so ultimately they end up losing out. Just no one is indispensable. The other thought is perhaps some people find it difficult to count to seven maybe?
Personally I go racing to see the horses not the riders. Sorry jocks but you are not that important to the ordinary punter, that is until mistakes are made and most do that at some stage. |
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Murtagh saying he will ride less frequently here doesn't only have to mean the number of meetings, it can mean the number of rides too.
If he comes here for a decent horse in a top race then he will also usually pick up a few mounts in lesser races and it can be those that the less frequent part applies to. If say he came over for the big race on the card and that was the only mount he took and it happened to be the 5th race, then I'd much rather he had ridden in a couple of the earlier ones if I was going to back him in the biggie and especially to get an idea of how the ground is riding and that kind of thing. There might also even be times when a horse he or any other overseas jockey regularly rides and gets on well with ends up having to put a new jockey on who might not click with the horse, or the connections might decide to target overseas races when Murtagh or whoever will ride it, so saying you go to see the horses and not the jockeys is all well and good but if the horses plans are decided on by the jockeys plans then you might not always get to see the horses anyway. Even a particular overseas horse itself now might not come to some of our big races if it's the type that needs stoking up and a few slaps during a race.......how would a horse like Cape Blanco have got on under the current whip rules? That's not to say I want to see the horse beaten up with the whip OTT style but he does undeniably respond to it during races. |
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ima, I think you picked a bad example in Cape Blanco, Spencer was beating a very tired animal, the horse was running on empty every last drop of energy was drained out of the horse by Spencers liberal use of the whip, CB would have been overhauled in another half a stride and if they went another 50 yards he'd probably have been 2L behind, the horse was virtually legless and the more Spencer was whipping it it didn't seem to be going any faster.
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Quoting myself here:
 That's not to say I want to see the horse beaten up with the whip OTT style but he does undeniably respond to it during races. My overall point though wasn't so much about any specific race but the way the horse runs in general (plus how it might apply to other horses with similar traits), although some of it can maybe be put down to Spencer's style of riding where he seems to sometimes want to go from sitting motionless and cruising to quickening up instantly within a matter of strides. Although hat wasn't the case last time with Cape Blanco but what I think was more significant was that he was stepping back up again to 12f and the ground seemed to be cutting up with the going described as yielding. Although he won the 12f Irish Derby, the going that day was good to firm and probably the only real bad races the horse has run have been in France over 11f in soft and the Arc at 12f in ground listed as very soft. Add to that in his last race Spencer went to the front 3f out and all things considered it was along way to sustain a run to the line from the front under all of those seemingly disadvantageous circumstances. |
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How many people who complain about Spencer's ride on Cape Blanco have actually seen the race? There was no whip abuse involved!
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Why would they complain if they didn't see it yank?, lets just say he was a lot more forceful than he would if riding in Britain and quite clearly well above shoulder height, numercially I think he hit the horse about 12 or 13 times which is hardly that excessive but how he was using it caught peoples attention it looked pretty ugly, and no doubt he brought along one of his spare whips the ones they use for foreign trips?.
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he couldnt ride vigorously in britain if he wanted too
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Who cares whether these people ride over here ever again. I think they shouls stay put forever
I assume you man the Irish jockeys who are at the crux of this ? Would love to see British Racing without the Irish.. |
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hear hear^
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I suspect a lot of journeyman jockeys will be quite happy if the top boys stay away and stop pinching their rides.
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