LONDON (AP) — A top jockey has handed in his racing license in protest of British horse racing’s new whip rules, after incurring two bans in the first week of their implementation.
Richard Hughes said Thursday he will not race again unless the rules are changed, after being handed a 10-day ban for breaching the new regulations at Kempton when finishing second on More Than Words.
The Irish jockey also was given a ban Monday. On both occasions, he was punished for using the whip six times inside the furlong pole, with the new rules only allowing five.
Hughes told Sky Sports News that jockeys weren’t consulted before the rules were introduced, and that “we’re finding it very difficult to abide by it.”
