When Lord Allen was appointed chair of the B.H.A., I was appalled. His insistence of an independent board won me over, though. But he was still the wrong man for the job, as events were to prove. I said that racing needed a man at the top who had experience, long experience, at the cliff-face of the sport and finally we have that man, finally we have a Chair that cares about the sport.
The good news is that Simon Cox does not view his new post as a part-time job. In today's Racing Post, in an article by the Industry Editor, Bill Barber, Cox commited himself to working flat out to resolve the problems that threaten to derail the sport. And I believe him. He has resigned from all the other racing committees he is involved with, including the Thoroughbred Breeders Association and the B.H.A. Jumps Pattern Committee, and has already had a meeting with Lord Allen, who he thought had a lot of good ideas. So, fingers crossed and all that, we may have, finally, the right man for the job. Hopefully, at the end of his tenure at the B.H.A. Simon Cox wouldhave done such a splendid job of restoring the sport's fortunes that he might join Lord Allen in the House of Lords.
Although I remain staggered by the savage sentence imposed on Rossa Ryan for his momentary misjudgement at Sandown last week, I have no problem with the lengthy bans given to Rowan Scott, Kieran Fox and Rhys Elliott by the Judicial Panel of the B.H.A.'s whip review committee. Scott received a 40-day ban, with 9-days suspended for 6-months or 200-rides for multiple breaches of the whip rule. Kieran Fox, who returned to the sport this season after a 6-year hiatus, was given a 32-day suspension, with 9-days suspended and apprentice Rhys Elliott received a 30-day ban with 9-suspended for 6-months. Jockeys know the rules and have only themselves to blame. If the rule is six, and you keep breaching the rule, a sensible jockey would only allow himself/herself 5 strokes of the whip, giving them a slight leeway if they should miscount.
The real issue, though, as Peter Thomas wrote in yesterday's Racing Post, is do bans or fines actually work? Jockeys are human, they, like you or me, will make mistakes now and again and the punishments handed down do not seem to cure the problem. Instead of taking away, say, Rowan Scott's licence for 40-days, less the 9, and remove his right to earn a living, why not ban him from using a whip in a race, force him for forty days to ride hands and heels. If this was implemented, it would provide data for the debate as whether some horses would run better or worse without being hit and the stigma of a whip ban would be there for everyone to see, not as horrific as the thief having his nose split or ear cut-off for stealing sheep but a red arm band on the 'villains' arm would be just as difficult to ignore.
Why, just why? In the Ascot Gold Cup, a Championship race if the flat truly has a championship race, Twawlerman had to give Scandanavian 1b. Surely, with the exception of the mare's allowance, championship races should be equal weight? My next question is why in the Goodwood Cup are horses alloted more weight than the Ascot Gold Cup. At Ascot, Scandanavian carried 9st 3Ibs, Trawlerman 9st 4Ibs and Miss Alpilles 9st 1Ib. Today at Goodwood, Trawlerman and Scandanavian have to lump 9st 12Ibs, while Miss Alpilles has 9st 9Ibs. In a handicap over hurdles, a horse might carry less weight. I find this bonkers. Surely it makes more sense for the three main Cup races of the season, or indeed all the Group 1 and 2 races for stayers, for the weights to be equal, except of courses the mares allowance and the 3-year-old allowance, and for the weights not to exceed 9 st 4Ibs. There are so few horses in this country, or in Europe, with the class to run in the Cup races, so why burden these horses with the weights they are expected to carry at Goodwood? Our Cup races are amongst the most historic in the calendar and should be treated with the same reverence as in their glory days.