In terms of British Racing, it is impossible to say Happy New Year because there are so many  imponderables and uncertainties, plus an overload recently of  the sewage which the human race coughs up from time to time. The festive season was not designed for Robbie Dunne and Graham Gibbon.

The Bryony Frost case began by shocking me because I found it difficult to believe that jump jockeys as a body allowed the “treatment” to continue without stepping in. Maybe they were waiting for her to hand in her licence and bequeath her book of rides to whoever got very, very lucky.  Surely not?  But it is a thought. I do have a nasty mind sometimes.

My next reaction was admiration for Bryony’s determination to seek justice, and even more admiration for her ability to follow that rough road without losing any of her skill in the saddle. The Irish race on Frodon was a real tester for all concerned including the watching millions because she had to go so fast from flagfall to finish in order to drain the opposition’s stamina, and it worked, but the partnership were living dangerously every step of the way. As for the Tingle Creek – Sandown’s final hill is there to push horse and rider to the limit and beyond. The ride she gave the winner brought him to the second last fence bouncing with energy and able to take the last spring-heeled, before sprinting to the winning post as if on wings. Between those two rides she covered the A to Z of jockeyship and scored 26 ALPHAs. So that was nice, and so was the judgement reached by the Independent Judiciary of the BHA, which showed, as always, that it is the conscience of British Racing. Long may it last.

This brings us back down to earth with a bang, because the raceday regulator of the BHA has been heard to complain that the activities of the Independent Judiciary are upsetting his Racecourse Stewards by overturning some of their decisions.. In fact the Ind. Jud. is simply  ensuring that its facilities and technology and experience and the thinking time available to it are used to ensure that the full facts are  revealed, even if the Racecourse stewards, under pressure on the day itself, have missed something important. The people concerned in appeals to the Independent  Judiciary like that aspect of the appeal system, and so would anybody with a brain, so I have no sympathy with  the regulator’s moans and groans.

Unfortunately all is not roses in another area of the stewarding world – that which concerns the   Interference Rules. We are now talking about the rules that were in operation at Kempton Park in 2016 when jockey Freddie Tylicki received injuries which condemned him to life in a wheelchair.

First the good news.  All credit to the lady High Court judge who presided over his case. I wondered whether she would know enough about racing to find her way through the mysteries of “horse speak”.  I needn’t have worried. She knew everything and she missed nothing. Tylicki got the verdict  he deserves, and so did Gibbon.

Now this seasonal greeting may become a trifle lugubrious, so I will quite understand if you decide to postpone part two until you have sharpened your wits with a whisky and soda. I am now going to allude to the fact that the Welsh Grand National on Monday 27th Dec. 2021 at Chepstow began with not one but two False Starts. As such, there is no way that it can be swept under the carpet, nor would I ever resort to such cowardice.

The background is as follows: since 2011 starting arrangements for National Hunt races with large fields (17 upwards) have been preceded by a process now called the ROLLING  MAUL. The runners are formed up into close order and sent off on a jaunt in the vicinity of the start while waiting for Start Time which may be a matter of seconds or of minutes. The horses hate the process and the further they go the more restive they become, and the same applies to the jockeys.

This monstrous innovation was introduced by a previous officer of the BHA (I think he invented it just like that without putting his brain in gear) and the number of False Starts  increased immediately (we are talking now of big field races only, which include many of the most prestigious races in the calendar, and most races at the Cheltenham Festival). Bear that in mind.

When the present incumbent took office, he was informed of the situation and was told that the removal of the ROLLING MAUL would instantly put matters right. That would mean a return to the 200-year-old system which had done the job perfectly well before the invention of the great mistake.

The incumbent decided to take no notice, and retained the dreaded Maul – hence the ghastly scene at Chepstow on Monday 27th  December:  not one but two False Starts, producing 20 distressed horses and 20 distressed jockeys. The extraordinary thing about the incumbent is that his  racing education has been largely acquired in the sport of harness racing, where drivers sit on what I believe are called “Sulkies” and races are started behind a moving car. Don’t ask me to explain!

Let us just say that his reluctance to take advice and his refusal to even try starts without the MAUL suggest that he is very single-minded. I sometimes wonder where the BHA finds these people. Is that what is called HR? Human Resources?  Two in succession… and ten years of False Start after False Start. They should be more careful.

I am sorry if I have cast a cloud over your hopes of a cheerful January. But we all have to bite the bullet some time. I felt it was my duty. In the autumn I issued one of these blogs in which I discussed this Maul business and I mentioned the name of the man I hold responsible. The great and the good were very angry, not with him but with me. Apparently mentioning a name can be defamatory. Do not name anyone, they said, but you are allowed to criticise the BHA. When Chepstow happened, I took their advice.

Best Wishes,

Donec