Following on from the seven whip referral hearings which took place at the Offices of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) today, Denis Egan, Chief Executive of the IHRB, has this afternoon set out some points of clarification on how the whip rules, which came into effect in April this year, are being applied.

Denis Egan said: “At the outset, it is important to note that the Irish whip rules are the least stringent in Europe and the penalties applied for initial rule breaches are considerably lower than those applied in other European jurisdictions.

The introduction of numbers into the rules brings greater clarity as to what is acceptable and contrary to what has been quoted in some publications recently, the Stewards and the Referrals Committee do retain discretion to determine whether a use of the whip is for corrective purposes or not. Discretion has not been taken away.

The number of rule breaches since the new rules were introduced is unacceptable. The reason for this is that the rules are not being complied with. The majority of riders do comply with the rules and have adjusted accordingly. I have no doubt that over time most riders will follow suit.

I welcome the fact that there is an acknowledgement that riders will take responsibility for their actions and if this occurs the current issues will be resolved.

In the meantime we will consider any submissions that are made on the rules and the penalty structure”.