The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) can legitimately claim that safety measures brought in before the Festival have made a difference, with the number of horse deaths – three – down on recent years.
However, officials were criticised over the treatment of amateur jockeys in comparison with their professional counterparts. Bans were handed out to 20 or so participants in two out of the three amateur-only races, leaving some unconvinced that professionals would have received the same censure – and with the impression that there’s an agenda against the so-called ‘unpaid ranks’.
Prior to the Festival, the Authority warned of a “material threat” to their exclusive races if rules were breached.
In particular, eyebrows were raised when no contraventions were judged to have taken place following false starts to four opening-day races in which any jockey can take part, but a similar incident on day three before the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Chase – confined to amateur riders – led to 17 suspensions.
There was also controversy after a jockey who finished third in the amateurs-only National Hunt Chase on the opening afternoon received a 10-day ban for continuing in the race “when it appeared contrary to the horse’s welfare”.
The former champion jump jockey AP McCoy labelled the decision “disgraceful”.
Rightly or wrongly, an element at the Authority has gained a reputation for misunderstanding the historic meaning of the word ‘amateur’ in the context of British racing.
It’s not the modern derisory ‘unprofessional’, but the more classical definition, from the Latin verb Amo – meaning ‘I love’ – ie knowledgeable horsemen and women who take part in racing in whatever role, notably race-riding and stewarding, for love not money.
Many amateur riders are considered far more experienced than the average professional, and only retain their status so as to be able to ride additionally in races on the entirely amateur point-to-point circuit.
The argument goes that this tradition, while sounding quaint and perhaps outdated in the 21st century, has been a generally solid backbone for horse racing for centuries. Critics fear a case of babies being throw out with bathwater by a BHA with too much reform on its mind. I suspect this one will run and run.