Cheltenham Festival: New measures introduced to improve equine safety
- Published
The 2019 Cheltenham Festival takes place between 12-15 March
Cheltenham Festival |
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Venue: Cheltenham Racecourse Dates: 12-15 March First race: 13:30 GMT |
Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio 5 live sports extra, plus text commentary, racecards and reports on the BBC Sport website and app. |
Trainers will submit videos of horses as well as detailed medication records to officials under new measures aimed at improving equine safety at next week's Cheltenham Festival.
Every runner at jump racing's showpiece meeting will undergo a veterinary check before racing for the first time.
In addition, inexperienced jockeys will be told they must walk the course before riding at the four-day meeting.
Seven horses died after being injured at last year's Festival.
"We must do everything we can to mitigate the risk of there being injuries and fatalities," Brant Dunshea, of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), told BBC Sport.
"The Festival and jump racing continue to be much-loved and of course, there are always risks. We don't believe you can eliminate them all, but we are prepared to do whatever is required to improve safety and continually drive the number of fallers down."
A team of vets will be at the Gloucestershire track from 07:30 GMT on every day of the Festival, which takes place from 12 to 15 March.
Officials are keen to identify any horses in advance that might have a health issue which could increase the risk of being injured.
"Cheltenham has always had incredibly good welfare provisions in place. We are taking it to the next level," said Dunshea, the BHA's chief regulatory officer.
"We are introducing a process where we scrutinise every runner in some way.
"Trainers are being asked to provide details of any horse that might be an awkward mover and they have been sharing videos [of the horses] in their natural environments, doing trot-ups. They could not have been more collaborative."
If there are any concerns, the BHA will assess whether it is down to the horse's gait, or whether there is an underlying issue.
What is being introduced?
A review into the fatalities at last year's Cheltenham Festival warned that welfare issues threaten the future of the sport if they are not addressed.
Seventeen recommendations are set to be implemented, including the following which will be in place for the Festival:
Enhanced veterinary checks on all runners and targeted alterations to race conditions at the Cheltenham Festival.
Last year, about 100 of the 463 runners at the meeting were checked by vets on the day before racing. All horses will be assessed this time.
A team of five veterinary surgeons will ask for horses to be trotted away and towards them. The animals will be monitored, including checking over their joints and tendons, with this process taking anywhere between two and 10 minutes for each runner.
Trainers must submit details of any medication for their runners in the last 45 days and veterinary procedures for the previous six months.
Reducing the maximum number of runners in the Grand Annual Chase from 24 to 20. Three horses died in the meeting's final race last year - it will be the penultimate contest this time.
Changing conditions of the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle to encourage the use of more experienced jockeys rather than riders who can claim a weight allowance.
The second-last fence is also being moved 10 yards further away from the bend on the Old Course.
Longer-term initiatives for racing include:
A major project, which could cost in the region of £3m, to build 'a predictive risk model' for racing as a whole to assist with future reform.
Monitoring jockeys and trainers who have a higher than average number of falls.
Looking at variables which could lead to an increased faller rate including horses' histories, their training surfaces on the gallops and even the climate - whether a long, dry summer for example, has an effect.
Fatality rates in racing have fallen over the past 20 years because of safety improvements - to 0.4% in jump racing and closer to 0.1% in flat racing.
Four horses died at the 2017 Cheltenham Festival and seven the previous year, and welfare campaigners have called for more action to tackle the issue.
Dunshea said any jockey that had not ridden at Cheltenham since the beginning of the previous season (October 2017) would be required to walk the course beforehand with a BHA jockey coach.
This is likely to involve about 30 riders over the four days, although jockeys who have ridden at the course more than 25 times in their career will be exempt.
He said the Professional Jockeys' Association had supported this "sensible, practical" move.
What about the whip?
Jockeys have been warned that significant breaches of the rules on using the whip at Cheltenham could lead to stronger sanctions at next month's Grand National meeting.
It is understood that one potential penalty could be an immediate ban - so a jockey given a suspension on the first two days of the big Aintree fixture might miss the National itself.
That is one of a number of options being discussed with the possibility of an appeal panel sitting that evening if required.
"What we are saying to jockeys is please work with us. We don't want to go down this path," said Dunshea.
Jump jockeys are permitted to use the whip eight times in a race, and since tougher regulations were introduced in 2011, the number of offences has halved.
Champion jockey Richard Johnson won last year's Cheltenham Gold Cup on Native River after an epic tussle with Might Bite, but the winning rider was given a seven-day ban and £6,550 fine for breaching the rules.
In December, the BBC revealed stronger deterrents to jockeys were being discussed and that senior figures in racing are preparing for a possible ban on its use within three years.
"We believe that when used in accordance with the rules, a padded, cushioned whip does not cause a welfare issue," said Dunshea.
"If we see jockeys having a blatant disregard for the rules in big races then we will consider broader sanctions."
What does the future hold for racing?
Horse racing is the second biggest spectator sport, after football, in the UK with a total annual attendance of nearly six million.
Cheltenham will have crowds of around 280,000 next week, and similarly big numbers are clocked up at the Grand National, Derby and Royal Ascot meetings.
In October, MPs debated the safety of racehorses after more than 100,000 people signed an e-petition calling on the government to set up a new equine welfare regulator independent of the BHA.
"The sport is being held to account politically and by society. The minister for animal welfare has taken an active interest in the review and the recommendations," said Dunshea.
"I've met him and he's made it clear to us that the Government expects to see improved welfare outcomes
"We have to help educate our stakeholders - trainers and jockeys - so they understand, and we need to work together to address these concerns."