Jockeys' celebrations turn sour

Racing

GREG WOOD

Ever since Nigel Hawke seemed close to pitching himself from Seagram 20 yards before the Aintree winning line when he punched the air in triumph at winning the 1991 National, some punters have winced at similar displays at the finish of big races. Now official eyebrows too have been raised, and the advisability of such celebrations was one of the subjects discussed yesterday at a York seminar bringing together both jockeys and the Jockey Club.

These gestures of delight, understandable though they may be, are now the rule rather than the exception, prompting some to question whether a jockey can really be in full control of a half-ton thoroughbred standing tip-toe in his stirrups with just one hand on the reins and his eyes looking skywards. Rather than impose a policy from above, though, the Club has decided to ask the riders for their opinion.

"We don't want to be painted as killjoys, it's simply a case of the safety of horse and rider, and whether that is brought into question by a jockey's celebratory antics," John Maxse, of the Jockey Club, said yesterday. "We want feedback from them, and we won't be saying anything about it until a second seminar for southern jockeys has taken place at Newbury on Thursday."

Another subject occupying minds at Portman Square is Declan Murphy's successful comeback ride on Jibereen at Chepstow three weeks ago, and the possibility that it was not entirely chance which allowed Murphy to ride a horse which a few days previously he had exercised for Geoff Lewis in a warm-up for the race.

Jibereen was a well-backed 3-1 favourite for the race, a novelty event involving both flat and jump jockeys, and led throughout.

The Club's officials have yet to decide whether any action will be taken. "We were hoping to finish the investigation on Monday and a report now has to be written," David Pipe, the Director of Public Affairs, said yesterday. "The Stewards will then decide if there is a case to be answered."

On a different floor at Portman Square, the thorny issue of the 1996 fixture list was under further debate yesterday. Bookmakers, under pressure from the National Lottery, claim that too many meetings are due to be staged in the evenings and on Sundays, when betting turnover is poor. Racecourses, however, are delighted at the high attendances at such meetings.

After a meeting with representatives of the Racecourse Association, Paul Greeves, the British Horseracing Board's Director, did not rule out last-minute changes to the programme, a possibility which could render that racing diary you always get for Christmas thoroughly redundant.

n Travado notched his third win in the Plymouth Gin Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter yesterday to give Jamie Osborne a comeback winner after 10 days out because of concussion. Huntingdon's Peterborough Chase - in which he may meet his stable-mate Remittance Man and Coulton - is next on his programme.