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Saumarez Smith’s Term Extended As BHA Chair

British Horseracing Authority Chair Joe Saumarez Smith's term will be extended until May 31, 2025, the BHA announced on Tuesday. The news follows the recommendation to extend his tenure by the Nominations Committee of the BHA, which was supported unanimously by the BHA Board. Saumarez Smith will hold the role for a full three-year term, which began on June 1, 2022. His original term would have expired in November of 2023. As part of this process, the BHA's Members approved an amendment to the BHA's Articles, to allow for the extended term to be offered.

Joe Saumarez Smith said, “I'm delighted and honoured to be asked by our shareholders to extend my term. I look forward to working with all of racing's stakeholders on the many issues facing the industry, especially relating to our long-term strategic direction. I am sure that together we can achieve many positive results.”

Julie Harrington, Chief Executive of the BHA, said, “I am delighted that Joe's term as Chair has been extended. We have made great progress together in resolving the sport's governance structure and initiating work on an industry strategy. Now is the time for stability as we look to develop and implement the strategy, drawing on the advantages of the new governance structure to bring about radical change for the sport.”

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BHA Will Review Whip Rules Once Again After Additional Concerns Raised

Additional discussions are being held to address the issues that surround the new UK whip rules, which are due to begin on Jan. 9, 2023 for National Hunt racing, with a four-week “bedding-in” period, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) announced on Friday evening.

Under the new rules, winning horses face disqualification if their jockey does not follow the new regulations. It has been agreed that to address concerns regarding the impact of potential disqualification of runners on raceday for betting purposes, any potential decisions regarding disqualification will now be made by the whip review committee away from raceday, and will therefore not affect the outcome of a race for betting purposes.

The “bedding-in” period allows jockeys to ride without being subject to the new sanctions. Beginning on Feb. 6, the new rules begin. For Flat racing, the “bedding-in” period begins on Feb. 27, with full implementation of the rules due to start on Mar. 27. Under the revised rules, a jump jockey who uses their whip 12 or more times–with 11 strikes or more for Flat jockeys–in any race could be disqualified. In addition, if the races are Class 1 or Class 2 races under both codes, as well as any race worth £27,500 on the Flat or £20,000 over jumps, the jockey also faces a potential 28-day ban.

Some leeway may be allowed if it is deemed riders were using their whip in the interests of safety or if it has been used down the shoulder with both hands on the reins. It has also now been decided that, should they wish, Flat jockeys may use the jump version of the whip–which has a longer padded section–in response to concerns raised by some jockeys regarding the use of the whip in the backhand-only and the risk of landing it in the incorrect place.

It is understood further representations made to the British Horseracing Authority include concerns over the backhand-only rule.

A spokesperson for the BHA said, “The BHA has always understood the challenges involved in any review of the use of the whip in horse racing.

“From the moment we launched a consultation in July 2021 we constantly engaged with all interested parties, especially jockeys and their representatives, to ensure we listened to the views of those most affected.

“It was because of that readiness to engage that we agreed to extend the initial timescales for implementation of new rules beyond autumn 2022, allowing as many people as possible to influence and shape the technical discussion phase.

“In the past few days, however, further representations have been made to the BHA, including some themes which were not raised as part of the initial consultation or technical discussions.

“In light of this latest information, the BHA and the chair of the Whip Consultation Steering Group have agreed to continue dialogue to explore options that address the concerns being raised, while still delivering our core objective of a more considered and judicious use of the whip for encouragement, and improved perception of whip use.

“It is right that those discussions are allowed to take place away from the glare of publicity but we will look to provide an update as soon as possible in light of the existing timelines for the 'soft launch' of revised rules on Jan. 9, 2023.”

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New Whip Rules to Start in Early 2023

The British Horseracing Authority approved new guidelines, penalties and procedures regarding the use of the padded whip Tuesday. In Flat racing, the rules will be fully implemented Mar. 27, with a bedding-in period that begins Feb. 27. In Jump racing, the bedding-in period will commence Jan. 9 before being fully implemented Feb. 6. During the bedding-in period, jockeys will be asked to ride under the new rules, however, will not be subject to the new penalty framework.
The core recommendations include:

Use of the whip for encouragement to be limited to the backhand position only
Threshold for acceptable use of the whip to remain at seven in a Flat race and eight in a Jumps race
Development of a whip review committee which is responsible for evaluation of all rides and any necessary sanction or action, to increase consistency and drive ongoing improvement in riding standards
Increased penalties for offences, including doubled suspensions in major races

Disqualification introduced for offences in which the whip has been used four times or more above the permitted level in all races
Brant Dunshea, Chief Regulatory Officer for the BHA said, “We recognise that some of the new rules are going to take some time to get used to for some jockeys, which is why we have factored in time for communication and education as well as a bedding-in period before the rules and penalties are implemented in full.

Full details of the rules, guidance, penalties and procedures can be found on the BHA website.

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Haskoy Connections Lose St Leger Appeal

Haskoy (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}), the filly that crossed the wire second in the G1 Cazoo St Leger and was demoted to fourth for inference, will remain in that position after connections lost their appeal on Tuesday.

The Juddmonte homebred, with Frankie Dettori in the irons, was deemed to have caused interference to Giavellotto (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) of a sufficient nature to place her behind that Marco Botti-trained colt, the raceday stewards determined.

During the appeal hearing, two incidents were looked into by the independent disciplinary panel of the British Horseracing Authority–an incident between the three- and two-furlong poles where the Ralph Beckett-trained filly drifted towards the inside rail, and again later on once jockey Neil Callan had re-balanced Giavellotto and were closing once again. The race was won by Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), with New London (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) promoted to second, Giavellotto third and Haskoy fourth.

Callan said, “About two and a half out I started to make my move and I noticed Mr. Dettori have a glance over his shoulder so I gave him a shout to tell him I was there. I got carried left and ran out of room.

“I lost momentum and had to pick my horse back up after further interference on my outside and then Mr. Dettori drifted back out so I went for the rail again, but half a furlong from home Mr. Dettori switched his whip and his filly leaned in on me again which cost me more ground.”

“I would say that up to half a furlong from home I was giving it 100% and then when the winner passed me half a furlong out and I knew I had the others beat, I was riding at 80%,” said Dettori, who would subsequently serve a five-day suspension for the ride.

“I can't judge Mr. Callan's ride, only my own, but I would disagree that Giavellotto passed me after the line so that means he would otherwise have beaten me. I took the revs off inside the last half furlong because I couldn't win.”

Panel chair Timothy Charlton KC said during the closing statements, “There was considerable interference just before and just after the two-furlong marker which cost Giavellotto a lot of distance and momentum.

“Without that he would have had a traffic-free run to the line and would have begun a serious challenge at that point. Instead, Mr. Callan had to take back sharply to avoid clipping heels which took him into more trouble with Danny Tudhope's mount [French Claim (Fr) (French Fifteen {Fr})] which compounded the loss of balance and momentum suffered from when Haskoy crossed in front of him.

“When Giavellotto returned to the rail he again suffered interference when Haskoy squeezed him up.

“The panel fully recognises the peril of an arithmetical approach to these sort of cases, especially when the interference is so far out, but despite those uncertainties the panel was persuaded that Haskoy's interference prevented Giavellotto from finishing ahead of Haskoy.

“It is the panel's view the deposit should be returned [to the connections of Haskoy] as perfectly respectable arguments were put to us.”

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