The Directors of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) have approved a number of amendments to the penalty guidelines used by IHRB Raceday Stewards which, along with with two rule changes, come into effect on 1 July 2024.

In July last year, new penalty guidelines for breaches of Regulation 10, which relates to whip offences, were introduced by the IHRB. Following a review of the impact and effectiveness of the new guidelines, and  having consulted with Raceday Stewards and the Irish Jockeys Association, the IHRB Directors approved a separation of breaches of Regulation 10.3(g), which relates to excessive frequency, from all other breaches under the Regulation 10.3 subrules.

This change will mean that if a Rider is found in breach of Regulation 10.3(g), when considering their record, the Raceday Stewards will only consider previous breaches of Regulation 10.3(g). Alternatively, if a Rider is found in breach of Regulation 10.3(a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (h) or (i), the Raceday Stewards will only consider their record in respect of these subrules collectively.

Furthermore, the reference period in considering the record of a Rider for any breach of Regulation 10 is now six months (reduced from nine months). Six months will also be the reference period for breaches of the interference rule, Rule 214 (reduced from 12 months).

A number of changes to the penalty guidelines setting out increased sanctions for breaches of Rule 212 have also been approved and are detailed in the Penalty Guidelines document.

The Directors of the IHRB have also approved two rule changes. The first introduces a new subrule under Rule 212A(iv) which provides that ‘Any Rider who appears to have misjudged the number of circuits shall be guilty of an offence under this subrule. In cases involving a Horse other than the winner, it shall not be a defence to an allegation this subrule has been breached that the Horse achieved its best possible placing.’ The penalty guideline for a breach of this rule is 14 days.

The other approved rule amendment is to Regulation 6 which governs how Optional Claiming Races will operate. These races, which will be programmed for the first time by Horse Racing Ireland later this year, will allow for Horses to be entered without the requirement to stipulate a claiming price. At the time of entry, a Trainer will declare if the horse can be claimed or is not to be claimed.

Paul Murtagh, IHRB Head of Raceday Operations, commented: “Following the introduction of the new whip and interference penalty guidelines last year, the IHRB Stewarding Committee committed to ongoing review of their impact and effectiveness. With the benefit of a year’s experience and having consulted with Raceday Stewards and other stakeholders including the Irish Jockeys Association, they made a number of recommendations to the IHRB Directors.

“The IHRB is committed to meaningful consultation with licensees and other stakeholders on material change that affects them and this was an important part of our process prior to the Directors approving the recommendations which we feel are an appropriate change having considered all the data available to us over almost 12 months.”

Andrew Coonan, Executive Secretary of the Irish Jockeys Association added: “Today’s announcement marked a helpful redefining of the present penalty structures and comes about following a constructive consultation between IHRB and the Committee of the IJA. When the new penalty guidelines were introduced in July 2023 it was always envisaged that they would be subject to continuous review and where this can be done in a positive way through ongoing dialogue and feedback it is positive for both the IHRB and all members of the IJA. We are positive that these further amendments will both help and encourage our riders to continue to achieve at the highest level both in Ireland and internationally.”