30th December 2011 Tony McCoy suffers suspected fractured ribs

Tony McCoy has been taken to hospital with suspected fractured ribs after a final-fence fall at Taunton on Friday.

The 16-time champion jockey was riding Laudatory in the Steve Logan Memorial County Contractors Handicap Hurdle.

Clerk of the course Michael Trickey said: “He had some morphine and they’ve taken him to hospital. He has suspected cracked ribs.”

McCoy is due to be in action at Warwick on Saturday, where he has four rides.

However, he gave up his final ride of the day, Hopeful Start, in the totetrifecta Handicap Chase and another excellent year for him appears to be ending on a sour note.

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28th December 2011 Betfair mystery at Leopardstown as in-running bets are voided

Betfair have made in-running bets during Voler La Vadette’s win at Leopardstown void.

There were bizarre scenes in their market for the woodiesdiy.com Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown with a total of £1,642,094 was matched at 28-1 on the winner, who went off the 13-8 second favourite on-course and won very easily.

Even more strangely, the Betfair graph showed over £21million was offered to back Colm Murphy’s mare at those odds, even though she was always in contention and looked the obvious winner even before the final flight.

Betfair suspended the market in order to investigate, and then confirmed that in-running bets would be void.

In a statement posted on their forum, the company said: “Customers betting in-play on this race will have seen that Voler La Vedette was available to back at 29 when the in-running market was suspended, and that a considerable sum was matched on the clear winner at that price.

“An investigation has revealed that this was due to an obvious technical failure which allowed a customer to exceed their exposure limit.

“In accordance with our terms and conditions, all in running bets on this race, both win and place, will be made void.

“We fully appreciate the dissatisfaction this will cause many customers, and apologise for a very poor customer and betting experience.”

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28th December 2011 Synchronised wins Lexus Chase at Leopardstown

Tony McCoy rode Synchronised to victory in the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown in the Republic of Ireland.

The Jonjo O’Neill-trained horse finished ahead of Rubi Light and favourite Quito De La Roque, ridden by Davy Russell.

McCoy, the 14-time jump jockey of the year, previously won the race in 2008 on Exotic Dancer.

Synchronised was originally due to defend the Welsh National on Tuesday, before being re-routed to Leopardstown.

The eight-year-old tracked runner-up Rubi Light and third placed Quito De La Roque into the home straight and swept clear before a fine leap at the last fence sealed victory.

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24th November 2011 Grands Crus fends off Sonofvic

Grands Crus was a workmanlike winner of the GPG Novices’ Chase at Newbury.

David Pipe’s charge was maintaining his unbeaten record over fences and produced a near faultless round of jumping.

So did market rival Sonofvic who was receiving seven pounds from the winner and looked a potential threat for much of the home straight.

However Tom Scudamore aboard the winner always had matters in hand and Grands Crus held a two lengths advantage at the line.

Sky Bet reacted by leaving the winner unchanged at 4-1 for the RSA Chase at Cheltenham and introduced the runner-up at 10-1 for the same race.

“That was probably a good performance by two very solid horses,” said Scudamore.

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21st October 2011 British Horseracing Authority amend whip rules

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has agreed to amend controversial new regulations on use of the whip.

Riders must keep to tight limits on the number of times they strike a horse but will now be able to use that allocation at any point in the race.

Jockeys could still lose prize money for infringements and representatives said “serious concerns” remained.

The ruling comes into force immediately and will be applied retrospectively.

Flat jockey Adrian Nicholls, who was given a five-day ban at Pontefract on Monday for whip offences, has welcomed the changes, which maintain the new limit of seven uses of the whip in Flat races and eight over the jumps, but lift the specific restriction of five strikes in the final furlong or after the last obstacle.

“I’m glad that common sense has prevailed,” he said. “I thought they were very harsh rules. I think the new rules are better for racing.

“The amount of times was never an issue with me, it was more the hefty bans and the financial penalties. Hopefully now we can put this behind us and concentrate on the good bits about racing.”

However, the Professional Jockeys’ Association (PJA) which accompanied a delegation of riders to a discussion with the BHA on Monday, said “serious concerns” over penalties remained.

“There are still serious concerns about the level of penalties for minor infringements of the rules,” PJA chief executive Kevin Darley said in a statement.

“A jockey could still be in breach of the rules and face a heavy penalty for using the whip in the best interests of safety and horsemanship.

“There are also concerns about the way the rules may impact differently on Flat and jump racing.”

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1st October 2011 Dettori welcomes BHA’s new rules on jockey whip usage

The BHA today announced that jockeys will face stiffer penalties for use of the whip in new rules being introduced on Oct 10 following a 10-month review. Riders are being further restricted as to how many times they can use the whip in a race, as well as being handed out stiffer punishments for using it with excessive frequency.

Frequency guidelines have been removed and replaced by strict and easily understood limits on whip use.

The whip can only be used a maximum of seven times in a Flat race, and eight times in a jumps race (and only five times in the last furlong/after the last obstacle). This is roughly half the amount of times a whip could be used previously before being in breach of the rules of racing.

Increased entry-point penalties are being implemented, with a five-day minimum suspension for not adhering to the frequency limits. The previous minimum penalty was a caution.

Penalties will increase for those who breach the rules on more than one occasion, and the second offence will be double that of a first offence.
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Dettori, arguably the most famous face in Flat racing, said he agreed with all aspects of the plans and praised the governing body for the clarity of the rules.

The Italian, who was banned for nine days after he hit Rewilding 24 times inside the final two furlongs of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, said: “I am not proud of having fallen foul of the whip rules in the past but I have never harmed a horse.

“These new rules are easy to understand which will help all jockeys ride within them.

“I accept these new rules are in the best interest of our great sport and it is right that they should be in place in time for Britain’s richest ever raceday, Qipco British Champions Day (Ascot, October 8).”

Tony McCoy, champion jumps jockey for the last 16 years and reigning BBC Sports Personality of the Year, said: “The PJA (Professional Jockeys Association) has worked closely with the Authority on the BHA’s Review and I hope my colleagues embrace the proposed changes as being in the best interest of the sport.

“I for one support the changes.”

Sir Henry Cecil, 10-times champion Flat trainer, added: “The BHA has done an excellent, thorough job with their review and I welcome these changes, which will hopefully serve British Racing well.”

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15th August 2011 Grand National fences to be made safer

Will changes to Aintree’s Grand National course make things safer, or is this merely a cosmetic exercise to appease the welfare groups and the once-a-year punter?

Following the unfortunate deaths of Ornais and Dooney’s Gate in last season’s race, The Grand National Review Group consulted animal welfare groups RSPCA and World Horse Welfare as well as the National Trainers’ Federation and the Professional Jockeys’ Association.

Now they are acting on those findings and changes will include the landing side of Becher’s Brook re-profiled to reduce the current drop (i.e. the difference in height between the level of the ground on takeoff and landing) by between 10cm (4 inches) and 12.5cm (5 inches) across the width of the fence. The height of the fence will remain unaltered.

Other changes will see the levelling of the landing side of the first fence, to protect horses from over-jumping at the start of the race, and a reduction in height of the fourth fence by two inches.

The height of the toe boards on all National fences will also be increased to 14 inches, in a bid to provide assistance to horses in determining the base of the fence upon approach.

Aintree’s Clerk of the Course Andrew Tulloch said: “We are not going to name all the jockeys and trainers who were consulted, although I can confirm that Donald McCain was one trainer we did speak to, contrary to reports elsewhere.

“With regard to the changes, it is a very difficult balance to get. Every year we review what can be done and we have worked very closely with the BHA, in particular with Jamie Stier (Director of Raceday Operations and Regulation), and the veterinary people.

“We have done extensive research and watched a lot of video and tapes from the races since that last major modifications in1990.”

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