CHRB sets minimum for jockey bans

The California Horse Racing Board on Thursday approved a rule that will require stewards to assess a minimum two-day suspension for a violation of the state’s riding rules.

The rule, which passed unanimously after a half-hour of discussion among commissioners and California racing representatives, would put a minimum suspension for riding infractions on the books for the first time. However, commissioners also said that California stewards have generally handed out a minimum suspension of three days for riding infractions, creating the unusual situation of a rule mandating a lower minimum than is practiced by the stewards.

The motion to approve the rule included a provision in which the regulation would be “evaluated” after it is put into practice. The commission had earlier put the rule up for a 45-day public-comment period, but commission staff said they received no responses to the proposal.

Alan Balch, executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers, urged the commission to conduct additional discussion about the rule prior to conducting a vote at the Thursday meeting, contending that there was no urgency to implementing the rule and that the new minimum might have “unintended consequences.” He also suggested that he would continue to support giving stewards the discretion to determine the severity of riding penalties.

“That’s why we have stewards,” Balch said. “So they can say this means three days, and this means five days.”

Chuck Winner, chairman of the commission, was immediately critical of Balch’s comments, pointing out that the CTT did not respond to the proposal during the public-comment period. Balch responded that he had apologized for not issuing a CTT response when he began to address the commission at the Thursday meeting.

The minimum penalty rule was the second rider issue to be discussed at the meeting, which opened with public comments from Darrell Haire, the West Coast representative of the Jockeys’ Guild. Haire urged the commission to review its rule over the use of the whip during races, stating that riders in the state are concerned that the rule is being applied unfairly and contrary to its spirit.

“The rule has not necessarily been applied as we were led to believe,” Haire said, reading from prepared statements.

Winner responded by saying that the commission would issue a survey to the state’s riders asking them to offer their opinions on the rule, which restricts the number of times a rider can use the whip without allowing the horse “to respond.”