bumping, boring, gamesmanship and misdemeanours of the horse.

​If you listen to ex-jockeys of either code assessing a race for the benefit of television viewers, the greatest ‘crime’ a licenced jockeys can commit in a race is to let someone up their inner coming into the straight, in the straight or in a driving finish. In the past, and usually commented upon in a positive manner, jockeys in their autobiographies will disclose how ‘they shut the door’ on a colleague mounting a challenge on their inside. It made little difference if the opposition was put through a wing of a hurdle or fence or if the other jockey had to violently snatch-up his mount to avoid a serious accident. And woe betide a young whippersnapper if he chose to go up the inside of one of the older generation!
But that was then. Now is a different era.
Jamie Spencer is, in my opinion, one of the most naturally gifted flat jockeys of his generation. He is also one of the canniest. In Ireland, recently, he picked up a six-day suspension for allowing his mount to veer into the path of rivals running in a close bunch on the rail. The potential outcome was a nightmare incident that on another occasion might have caused injury or worse to horses or riders. I do not believe Jamie Spencer made too great an effort to keep his horse straight as winning the race was of greater importance. Let’s change the scenario: if Jamie had been delayed on his way to the races and he caused a similar collision as he did at the Curragh in his car on the motorway, would the judge grant him leniency due to him ‘being in a hurry to get to work?’ Me thinks not.
In the past, nudge and jostling was allowed by jockeys as part and parcel of race-riding. In our more enlightened turf society, we view deliberate bumping and boring as potential for death and injury. Frankie Dettori received a nine-day ban from the Royal Ascot stewards for allowing his mount to come across a horse in behind causing the jockey to snatch-up his mount to prevent a serious incident. Nine-days was fair, in my opinion. The ban he received for the whip offence in the Queen Anne was out of proportion to the offence, though.
To my way of thinking, the incident involving Jamie Spencer in Ireland had far greater potential for possible injury to horses and jockeys than the crime committed by Dettori. Gina Mangan, an experienced 3lb claimer, is about to start a 35-day ban for a succession of whip offences. Personally, I believe a more appropriate penalty would be a 35-day period of being unable to use a whip in earnest a race as it would give her 35-days to learn a whole new philosophy on how little the whip truly helps a jockey win a race. The legendary Fred Archer is quoted as saying that he lost more races through the use of the whip than the whip ever helped him win. Yet, to return to the plight of Mangan, did she in any of the races where she was found foul of the whip rules endanger the lives of her fellow jockeys? I contend Jamie Spencer’s ride at the Curragh, where he made little effort to correct the misdemeanour of his mount, endangered the well-being of his fellow jockeys and the horses they were riding. Six-days was far too lenient if the authorities have any ambition to make the racecourse a safer environment for horse and rider. A disqualification was in order, in my opinion, with his suspension at least doubled.
In defence of Jamie Spencer, and here I accept he did not intentionally veer his horse into the path of his rivals, and if that is the truth of the matter, the misdemeanour was caused not by his riding but by the inclination of his mount and this makes it a different ball-game to Dettori’s riding at Royal Ascot on Saga as he made the decision to close the gap on horses following him. Not that I believe Spencer made every effort possible to keep his mount on an even keel. To my mind, his riding was only a smidgeon short of the philosophy of winning at any cost.
The B.H.A. continue to make scapegoats out of jockeys. The bans handed out on a regular basis to jockeys for exceeding whip rules by one or two strikes multiplied by five indiscretions is tarring our jockeys’ reputations as carpet-beaters. Yet on the other hand jockeys are being given lenient punishments for incidents that have the potential for death and injury. I still remain at odds with the 4-day ban Hollie Doyle picked-up at Royal Ascot when she did all that could have been expected of a jockey to correct the misdemeanour of her mount, added to which the incident did not cause Hart to stop riding and the stewards deemed the incident made no difference to the result of the race. It was slap of the wrists for the sake of a slap of the wrists.
Look, driving on a busy motorway frightens the crap out of me, riding in a big-field handicap on lightly-raced three-year-olds would send me to a religious retreat or asylum. Like me, stewards and the people of the B.H.A. have no experience of race-riding and their judgements on those that do continue to fall well short of the standard a professional authority should be seeking to achieve.
I believe the following:
There must be an imperative on jockeys keeping their mounts running in a straight line at all sectors of a race.
Hampering a rival through bumping, boring or plain gamesmanship should result in disqualification to last place.
Careless and dangerous riding should be one and the same thing.
Jockey suspensions should become an embargo on using a whip in any way other than to prevent an accident for a similar period as now being imposed. Jockeys should not be suspended from riding.
There should be ‘hands and heels’ race for professional flat jockeys as there are occasionally for apprentices. If professional jockeys are not obliged to ride a finish without the aid of a whip, we have nothing to compare with races where the whip is all important to a jockey.