Changes relating to the 'non-triers'' rule, Rule 151, have been announced today by the Jockey Club in Britain.
Rather than having one all-encompassing rule, the stewards of the Jockey Club have approved plans to introduce three new rules for categories of riding offence and to also transfer the responsibilities of the owner and trainer to a separate rule (Rule 155).
The new Rule 156 will cover errors of judgement by jockeys including dropping hands, mistaking a race distance and taking the wrong course.
Cases where a horse is ridden with the intention of concealing its true ability or affecting the result of the race will come under Rule 157.
Rule 158 will deal with other cases including schooling and conditioning in public, an ill-judged ride or prematurely easing an unplaced horse.
The changes will come into effect at the start of the Flat turf season.
Explaining the alterations the Jockey Club's director of regulation, Malcolm Wallace, said: 'Whilst having an all-embracing rule has its attractions, it cannot be right for one rule to cover everything from deliberately stopping a winner to a rider carelessly dropping his hands and forfeiting fourth place.
'Although under the current system different penalties reflect the varying severity of each offence, in the eyes of the public all jockeys and trainers are in breach of the 'non-triers' rule, even when a breach is due solely to a misjudgement by the rider.
'The new lay-out aims to clarify the situation, so that only when there is a breach of Rule 157 could the term 'non-trier' be fairly applied.'
As a result of the changes Rule 151 now deals with Walk Overs and Rules 156-159 (Dead Heats) have been compressed into one rule (Rule 159).
