Ivanovich Gorbatov© Photo Healy Racing
The hottest Cheltenham favourite this week is likely to be Douvan maybe odds should be similarly short about the whip debate again dominating the aftermath of one of the championship events. Paddy Brennan got fined €5,600, and banned for 11 days, after landing the King George with what the Kempton stewards described as a ‘win at all costs’ ride. It doesn’t get more ‘at-all-costs’ than at Cheltenham so we may well be heading for some tired and trusted arguments.
They are tired arguments which can be trusted to get kicked around to the point of boredom because logic seems unacceptable to so many. Only racing is capable of creating technical grey areas which mean you still win even if breaking the rules. It wouldn’t be tolerated in any other sport. Yet penalising the jockey is still racing’s cop-out of choice, allowing the pretence of meaningful action without actually doing what’s required.
At some stage this week the odds must be that a jockey will break the whip rules in a major event, happily trading a ban and a financial penalty for the glory of a big Cheltenham winner that can define an entire career. No one will say it is win-at-all-costs when it patently is and grateful connections will make sure their rider isn’t out of pocket. Everyone will trade the usual ‘appalling vista’ stuff about punters up in arms should logic be applied and then take a deep breath before the same stuff gets reheated later in the spring when it counts big again.
And it’s getting really boring because ultimately logic must apply and logic says horses have to be disqualified if their jockeys break the rules. That’s it. Forget all this stuff about jockeys having too much on their minds to be counting whip strokes. That’s too glib. Jockeys, everywhere, ride to the culture they’re in. Arguing that jockeys can’t do a little arithmetic brings to mind Lyndon Johnson’s famous jibe at another US President, Gerry Ford — “So dumb he can’t fart and chew gum at the same time.” Jockeys will adapt to the culture that applies.
The problem is we’re probably looking at years more of this before anything changes, and God knows how long after that before addressing even more fundamental issues surrounding use of the whip.
It’s interesting though to examine where they are in Australia regarding this matter. Last July the national regulatory body which represents the country’s eight states and principal racing authorities, approved a rule limiting whip use to five times in total in a forehand or backhand manner until the last 100 metres of a race.
Racing professionals predictably didn’t like it. Just as predictably “a can of worms” has supposedly been opened by a decision at the Sunshine Coast track in Queensland last week to disqualify one of the horses, Rosella, in a dead-heat because its jockey used the stick three times more than the rules allow before the 100 metre mark.
“By all means penalise the jockey for the doing the wrong thing but don’t penalise the trainer, owners and punters who backed the horse,” protested Rosella’s trainer in a plea that translates easily to this side of the world.
The first of a few things to point out about this is that the rule has been in place for a few months now and this is the first time it has been used. And it’s a safe bet jockeys throughout the country will have taken note of what happened. Another is that as rules go it seems vague enough to allow a ‘win at all costs’ attitude too - just inside the final 100 metres - which proves convolution isn’t the preserve of the BHA.
But crucially, and most importantly, the jockey broke the rules, the horse got thrown out, professionals recognise a real deterrent rather than a phoney one, and, guess what, the sun still rose the following day.
The evidence presented in the case which sees trainer Jim Best facing the loss of his trainer’s licence was riveting if hardly surprising. Jockey Paul John recounted instructions from his former boss in relation to stopping two horses last December, about running them into the bottom of hurdles, racing wide throughout, just some of the various tricks of the trade which won’t be in evidence this week at Cheltenham but which can be regularly seen most other weeks.
The difference here, and the only way the case probably stuck, was because somebody was prepared to outline the reality, bluntly, and on the record. What would the odds have been on trying to get the charges to stick without that, and a panel had to rely solely on the evidence of their eyes? Much was made of how blatant the video evidence was: plenty will believe officialdom is serious about stop-jobs when prepared to act on the evidence of their eyes alone. John, whatever his reasons, was a rare exception in being prepared to call it as it is. What will be interesting now is how employable he will prove to be in future.
Joseph O’Brien reportedly expects to receive his trainer’s licence in May and has called time on a spectacularly successful riding career. It was a career that made him a polarising figure, either lauded or pilloried, rarely treading the sort of middle ground which might acknowledge O’Brien as a good jockey, without being a great one, while undoubtedly proving himself a remarkable individual to keep his weight under control for as long as he did.
The resolve to keep his six foot frame under nine stone was hugely impressive, as is the self-awareness to call it quits before his health might be affected by the effort involved. Sceptics will argue it’s an enviable position he has to step into but plenty of those will never have O’Brien no matter what he goes on to achieve.
However, twenty years after Urubande gave Aidan O’Brien a first Cheltenham success, there would be a symmetry to Ivanovich Gorbatov landing this week’s Triumph Hurdle.
