THE B.H.B. AND THE ENEMY WITHIN, POSSIBLY.

​Good governance is vital to any sport. Without insightful regulation and thoughtful influence lies the fissures for insurrection and disregard for authority and those empowered to enforce that authority. The British Horseracing Board, at least over the past few weeks, have come close to losing the respect of their most important stakeholders, the people who hour-by-hour care for the animals at the very heart of our sport. It is too easy to ridicule and make jokes at the expense of the lawmakers, I have done so myself, yet when the governing body of the sport make decisions that can only aid those who might be considered the enemy of the sport, the time has come to ask whether those appointed to run the sport are fit for purpose.
I did suggest that changing the rule regarding whether a horse can run with only front shoes or shod all-round, taking the responsibility away from the trainer, was by far the stupidest idea the B.H.B. has thus far manufactured. What made the proposed change, now put on hold for six months, more regrettable and brainless, was the assertion that they had consulted all relevant parties before coming to their decision. Obviously, this was a big fat lie as thus far not one trainer has come out in full unqualified support for the proposal.
Yet the fine metered out at Uttoxeter to Henry Oliver for waving his arms in order to get his horse to the start far outstrips any previous stupidity committed by the B.H.B. or even their predecessors, The Jockey Club. In fact, it has the hallmarks of a Monty Python or Spike Milligan sketch. Of course, as we might expect from a governing body displaying all the signs of losing the plot, a spokesman for the B.H.B. had to make the situation even more ridiculous by stating straight-faced that ‘in waving his arms Henry Oliver was taking away the horse’s free-will to race’.
This small incident, which might be tagged, ‘horse not hurt in any way by trainer with out-of-control arms’, has the power of Pandora’s Box to inflict the rule-book with any absurdity you care to think of.
Give it a moment’s thought: waving your arms behind a horse to get it to walk forward removes from the horse the free-will to make its own choices. Next time you are watching The Morning Show with a scene of the unloading area at a racecourse in shot and a horse hangs back from going into the racecourse stables and a stable employee waves her or his arms and says ‘Go on, you bugger’, stable staff are prone to use such expletives, just to warn you, that person is committing an offence punishable by a fine of £140. The precedent, remember, has been set.
You might want to defend the B.H.B. and claim that the fine at Uttoxeter was imposed because Henry Oliver was at the start without permission but that is to miss the point. The absurdity lies within the assertion that in waving his arms Henry Oliver took from his horse its right to free-will.
Now, taking this judgement to its logical conclusion, when a jockey picks up his whip to urge his mount to greater exertion, he is taking from the horse its right to free-will, to exert himself or not to exert himself.
The starter’s assistant can never again have the satisfaction of cracking the whip to encourage horses to leave the starting gate at the gallop.
Stalls handlers will no longer be required as they would be taking away a horse’s right to free-will by leading or heaving it into the stalls.
In fact, all horses in future will have to consulted on what feed they prefer, what bedding, on whether they have two or four shoes fitted to their feet or any shoes at all. Upon this road lies madness.
Free-will: the power of directing one’s own actions, without constraint by any external influence.
I wonder what Frodon might have to say on the matter – he will have to be consulted, I should imagine - and other horses like him who jump fences with the free-will only pure contentment can summon.
As with everyone involved in our sport I love and admire the racehorse. Without the racehorse my day would be diminished, my soul would be without value, my heart broken. As with everyone involved in our sport, I wish no harm to any racehorse or animal of any kind. Yet when the governing body of the sport suggest that a horse has free-will, that it and it only can determine whether to race or not, then we must only assume that cuckoos and snowflakes have dominion at the headquarters of the B.H.B. And this is a regulatory body that remains reluctant to act on the main issue that hurts the sport’s reputation, namely the whip, yet seems to believe that arm-waving somehow is detrimental to the sport’s image.