Robbie Power Speaks Out On Horse Racing’s New Whip Rule

on February 27, 2023 at 2:07 pm

Here at BoyleSports our very own Sarah Kinsella got the chance to sit down with our horse racing ambassador Robbie Power and discuss the controversial new whip rule in horse racing.

There has been a lot of debate about the changes made to this rule of late but the biggest question has been the timing of the rule change. Here’s what Robbie Power had to say about the timing of the change,

“I think the timing of it… Everything in life is about timing and common sense, so whatever idiot decided that in the middle of the season they were going to change the whip rules just made no sense. It was ridiculous.”

You can watch the video of Robbie Power’s interview with our Sarah Kinsella below:

Robbie is of course one of the most successful jockeys Ireland has ever produced having won the Aintree Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup so when it comes to this new whip rule change his opinion should carry the utmost weight.

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Power is not against the idea of changing the rule or having a discussion about a potential rule change but rather making such a massive rule change at this time in the National Hunt racing calendar with the Cheltenham Festival just around the corner.

“This was something that should have been discussed, yes, definitely discussed with the view to bringing it in, okay for the Flat racing – start of the season, yes that’s fine. For jump racing – at the end of the season for the new season and you start way during the summer.”

There have already been plenty of jockeys in Britan who have fallen foul of the new whip rule change and been issued suspensions for actions that would have been considered legal at the start of this horse racing season.

One of the most high profile cases is Lorcan Williams who will now miss the Cheltenham Festival due to a suspension he received for infractions against the new rule.

Robbie compared the absurdity of the timing of the changes to the whip rule to if another sport were to change their rulebook during the middle of a season.

“You don’t introduce new rules into a game, any game, or any sport half-way through the season.”

When discussing how this situation should be rectified Power was very critical in his words for the people behind the rule change and how they should be punished for the decision.

Some clown now that has never ridden a horse came up with this idea and was trying to make a name for himself and he should be sacked anyway, because it was bad timing.

We are now a little over two weeks away from the Cheltenham Festival which is the biggest horse racing event of the year. The problem for horse racing lovers now is that all anybody is talking about is this rule change.

Robbie finished by pointing out that the conversations that are happening at this time of year in the National Hunt racing calendar shouldn’t be focused around a rule change.