Edward Gillespie says whip rules row will not mar Cheltenham Festival

Edward Gillespie, the managing director of Cheltenham racecourse, said on Monday that the track is already planning to ensure for the possible impact of the British Horseracing Authority's controversial new whip rules on the "credibility" of its showpiece Festival meeting in March. A series of bans and fines in recent days has reignited the debate over the current whip regime. As a result there is concern at the track that the whip could dominate thoughts and discussions not only in the run-up to the Cheltenham Festival but during the meeting itself if suspensions are handed out on a regular basis. "We want to make sure that it doesn't become the story of the Festival," Gillespie said. "We want people each day talking about the excitement of the races and how much money they've won and lost. We don't want the whip to become part of what the Festival is remembered for. "It's not our job to comment on the rule and whether it's a good one or a bad one but we want to make sure that it doesn't detract from the general enjoyment of the four days. So it's quite a delicate line because it's not for us to have a view about what the rules of the game are." The BHA's first attempt to rewrite the whip rules last year overshadowed the inaugural British Champions Day at Ascot in October, when Christophe Soumillon was fined his percentage of the purse – roughly £50,000 – for his winning ride on Cirrus Des Aigles in the QIPCO Champion Stakes. The rules were subsequently amended and Soumillon's penalty was refunded. The amended rules are still the most severe of any major racing country, however, and there is little doubt that the intensity of the racing at the Cheltenham Festival, and the long climb up the hill to the finishing line on which horses can slow almost to a walk, will be a huge test for jockeys as they try to stay within the BHA's eight-stroke limit. "We've already started planning with the BHA in terms of how to manage any issues and hopefully prevent them," Gillespie said. "In terms of the impact at the Festival we had our first planning meeting last week with the BHA to identify who is going to do what. First of all, it's doing all that might be done to minimise the number of incidents that could take place and making sure that those riders who are less familiar with the British riding laws than others are fully aware of the rules but, in the event of it happening, who is going to manage what. "We as the racecourse will ultimately leave it to the BHA to manage issues regarding the whip but, when it starts connecting with the credibility of the race meeting, obviously we need to get involved." Gillespie, who is a cricket umpire in his spare time, used an analogy from the sport to describe his role when it comes to whip rules and the Festival. "I would compare it with the person who has a similar job to mine at Lord's cricket ground," he said. "If there's a fiasco about the lbw law, you really discuss that with the law-makers of cricket, which probably means somebody tucked away in Dubai. It's only when people start throwing cushions onto the pitch that the man from Lord's starts getting involved "We've got to be very clear in our minds that the racecourse's responsibility is putting the show on, looking after the customers and doing everything we can to make it a happy occasion, hence our involvement with the BHA, trying to get the lines of communication right. And we have started nine weeks in advance to make sure that we are well prepared for whatever might crop up." Visiting jockeys from Ireland will be a particular focus of attempts to explain the new whip rules in the run-up to the Festival meeting. "There will be a number of Irish riders who might not have ridden under these rules before, and that is at the top of our issue lists," Gillespie said. "It's obviously quite difficult for those who are familiar with the rules to count to eight, but equally for those who have not ridden before under these rules it is an additional aspect for the Festival. "Again, I know from umpiring in cricket that I often find that I can't count to six, and that's when there's nothing else to do but count to six. It's not easy to count to eight when there are many others things that you need to do." The new whip rules will not prevent a winner being led in after every race, of course, but Gillespie suspects that the identities of a few of the 2012 crop might have been different under the old whip rules. Wichita Lineman, who produced an extraordinary rally from an apparently hopeless position in the big handicap chase on the opening day of the Festival in 2009, is one example of a memorable victory that would not have been possible without a ride that, under the new rules, would have attracted a significant ban for Tony McCoy, his jockey. "There have been several like that, but again you've got to take the rough with the smooth and say that perhaps different horses will win different races under these rules," Gillespie said. "I think that's accepted. What we've got to do is work closely with the BHA, and that will be an ongoing process and we'll be meeting and speaking with them regularly so that we can manage events as they arise, but hopefully prevent them happening by communication beforehand. "It's eight weeks away, so we've got plenty of time to do everything we can to minimise that risk."