Wednesday, 12 October 2011

More Whip Bans At Lingfield


Natalia Gemelova was handed a seven-day ban at Lingfield for falling foul of the British Horseracing Authority's stricter whip rules as the debate rumbled on during Wednesday.

A maximum of seven strikes are allowed during a Flat race, and no more than five during the final furlong, and the transgressors can be suspended as well as losing their riding fee and any prize-money percentage.

Although there appeared widespread acceptance of the changes from trainers and jockeys when they were announced, dissatisfaction is growing.


Richard Hughes and Kieren Fox were punished heavily at Windsor on Monday, while Gemelova was given a seven-day holiday from her ride on second-placed For Life in division two of the News International Classified Claiming Stakes.

Racing's administrators were particularly busy, as nine jockeys, including Tony McCoy, were given 10-day suspensions at Wetherby after failing to pull up during a void race.

Gemelova, who has a young daughter and is based in North Yorkshire, will be harder hit financially than the likes of Hughes and had not had a winner from 34 previous rides over 197 days. She must sit out October 26-29 and October 31, as well as November 1-2.

Gemelova said: "I tried my best to stay within the rules, but it's harder than you think. I have got a family to feed and I've been out of luck getting banned as well as coming away from here with no money. I waited as long as I could before picking up the whip and I'm just going to have to be more careful."


Pat Cosgrave was later given a five-day ban when finishing a short-head second on Marcus Antonius in the Smiths News Handicap.

Cosgrave was found to to have used the whip eight times and the incident prompted a stinging criticism of the rules from trainer Jim Boyle.

"The horse was hanging all the way down the straight and, from what I've heard, the eighth strike actually hit Steve Drowne (rider of the winner, Henry Holmes) on the arm," said Boyle.