- This topic has 2 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 18 years ago by
.
- Posts
I’m not a regular customer of the Racing Post these days, but on a drive down to Bristol yesterday I stopped off at Michael Wood services, took out a loan to purchase the latest edition of the aforementioned publication and settled down to endure the tedious journalism whilst treating myself to a Bacon Deluxe (or whatever name they go by these days).
I came across a small article relating to track safety, where it was reported that changes had been made to related procedures in order to stop a race should it be fundamentally unsafe to continue. The article included an example of a race where such intervention was required, stating that flags were used by stewards inside the course to warn continuing riders that a horse had fallen and remained injured on the track.
After reading that the use of flags had proved unquestionably successful in getting the other riders to pull up, and that such events are so incredibly rare that there’s more chance of spotting Michael Jackson chatting up someone with an age in double figures, I was wondering what procedural changes had, and could have, been made.
The answer; stewards have not only been armed with pretty black and white flags but also with whistles, the same whistles, in fact, issued to Football Association referees (what the point of emphasising this was, I don’t know).
Reading on further, comments made by the Chief Executive of the Professional Jockey’s Association, Josh Apiafi, said that he was happy to have been working with the BHA on such a worthwhile project and was satisfied that a satisfactory conclusion had been reached following a six-month collaboration.
Apart from the fact that, by the BHA’s own admission, there wasn’t really a problem to begin with, does it not seem a little ridiculous that it has taken so much time (and presumably money, unless of course we’re getting into the realms of ministerial expense claims and those involved in the ‘project’ actually spent 5 months at their second home doing up the kitchen) to decide to give half a dozen people a whistle?
With the problems facing racing at the moment surely they have higher priorities?
The BHA initiating a safety initiative for a scenario that has not seen a single man or beast so much as scratched for the last fifteen years. Hmmmmmm, …… we’ve been here before and it can mean only one thing.
The key phrase to focus on is ‘Once a race is stopped in this manner it will be declared void.’
Take a wild guess when the whistles will be used in preference to just waving horses around a fence.
The review came about following the incident at Wolverhampton where there was a stricken horse in the home straight and the race had to be stopped.
It was realised there was no formal process in place for stopping a race and that each course had its own ad-hoc procedure, if any, in place.
As for an audio warning, that has been implemented as it was appreciated that jockeys may not see the flags. The reason for specifying the type of whistle is for consistency.
For halt race it is a yellow flag and FA Standard whistle.
For fence by-passing or hazard avoidance it is a black and white check flag and a Fox-40 whistle.
It makes logical sense to me to have different whistles for different meanings.
There have been incidents, thankfully rare, where jockeys have not seen the by-pass flags and have jumped a dolled off fence.
Rather than being criticised I think the authorities should be applauded for identifying a lack of standard procedure and closing the loophole. Imagine the outcry if for any reason a race wasn’t stopped and a horse or jockey was killed or injured.
As for taking five months – it is called consultation!! For example the initial proposal did not have a requirement for a whistle for hazards.
I have to smile as elsewhere on this forum people are complaining about the Rule 4 changes being implemented without consultation damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.