Whip bans and BHA silence leave me speechless – jockeys are being unfairly robbed of a living

IT’S not often I am speechless, but I was left silent when the BHA reacted to my weekend column in The Sun over the whip by saying they are “very encouraged” by the latest figures.

I revealed on Saturday that since the new whip penalties have come into place, there have been 72 bans totalling 433 days for jumps riders between February 7 and March 20, and 174 suspensions numbering 922 days under both codes through March 27-May 29.

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That’s 246 bans with 1,355 days where certain riders have been denied the chance to earn a living.

Yes, incredible hey, but the BHA say this is “very encouraging”. The mind boggles.

Jockey Neil Callan sees it differently. He told me: “It’s an absolute joke. It clearly shows the trend and pattern we are going down.

“Jockeys are getting smashed for the most minor technicalities – if they are technicalities! – that to the naked eye you would not see unless you were looking for it.

“The authorities are creating an issue over something not there. The big name jockeys should be speaking out.”

This week is all about the Betfred Derby, and genius Aidan O’Brien well surely pull off his greatest ever training feat should Auguste Rodin land Saturday’s feature event live on ITV.

And the vibes could not be better for the big hope of Ballydoyle.

Because quite simply O’Brien is back.

After a hugely disappointing Newmarket Guineas weekend, the magic of O’Brien has once again shone through.

Glimmers of a turnaround came at Chester, when, of course, leading Oaks fancy Savethelastdance hacked up in the Cheshire Oaks.

But it’s what O’Brien has done over the last week or so which shows that anything is possible.

First, a massively disappointing one-time former Derby hope Bolshoi Ballet bounced back to form when just touched off by Haskoy and Israr in the Al Rayyan Stakes at Newbury.

Meditate gave Tahiyra a good fight in the Irish 1000 Guineas, showing all that class she had produced in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf.

On top of that, Little Big Bear showed he could be a sprinting star in the Sandy Lane at Haydock, and Paddington landed the Irish 2000 Guineas.

But what about Auguste Rodin? Has any horse won a Derby at Epsom on the back of a bigger flop than he put up in the 2000 Guineas?

That day, Auguste Rodin only beat two horses home, finishing twelfth of the fourteen runners.

But O’Brien keeps the faith and last season Auguste Rodin looked like he was a star when landing the Group 1 Vertem Futurity at Doncaster.

As many of you will know, I’m a huge O’Brien fan. But not just because he’s a genius horse race trainer – after all, he should do quite well with the power of bloodstock he has from Coolmore.

It’s more that O’Brien is a good bloke. Good fun. And genuine. That, for me is what makes him special.

If August Rodin happens to win the Derby on Saturday, O’Brien should be renamed the ‘Wizard of Ballydoyle’. 

In other news Chapman will be ridden by Kevin Stott at Leicester on Tuesday. Rest assured this equine version is not named after me. But expect him to be a quirky so and so! Yeeehaaa!

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