Revamp will make weighing rooms more female-friendly
⮞ Private shower and changing facilities planned at all courses ⮞ Tests from horses at raided Irish yard return as negative
The British Horseracing Authority has announced plans to upgrade weighing rooms as part of a longterm commitment to modernise and “future proof ” facilities across all 59 British courses.
These will include a move towards a shared valet space for men and women, a communal rest and food area, the immediate provision of private changing and shower facilities in the men and women’s changing rooms and the removal of saunas.
One way or another, the current configuration of weighing rooms, whereby female jockeys have to enter a male environment to collect a saddle and be weighed out by a valet, is sure to crop up in the Robbie Dunne disciplinary hearing, which starts on Tuesday.
Dunne has denied allegations of bullying and harassment made by fellow jump jockey Bryony Frost.
The BHA plans, which have been in the pipeline since it set up a crossindustry group with jockeys and racecourses in March, will pre-empt any instructions from the discipli nary panel to bring weighing rooms to a level expected in any professional sport in the 21st century.
With an increasing percentage of the jockey population being female – particularly on the Flat – a longterm aim is to have weighing rooms such that, if there are more women than men riding, they can have the larger changing room.
Key safeguarding measures, such as private shower and changing facilities, particularly for under-18s, will be implemented by Feb 1. The other changes will be phased in over the next three years.
Saunas, in which jockeys used to sweat off sometimes up to 5lb to make a weight, have not been in use since the start of the pandemic and riders have become accustomed to their weight in better, healthier ways through fitness and nutrition rather than through acute dehydration.
Most jockeys will not be sad to see them go. Indeed, 88 per cent of the 190 who responded to the Professional Jockeys Association survey voted for their removal.
Dale Gibson, an executive director of the PJA, said: “We have been lobbying for major improvements to facilities, particularly for our female riders, for years. Progress until now has been disappointing. But we welcome the change in approach and a lot of work has gone into the creation of this plan.”
Elsewhere, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board confirmed yesterday that blood and hair samples taken from horses at a premises near Monasterevin, Co Kildare, on Nov 9, when the Irish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Marine carried out a raid, have returned negative tests for prohibited substances.
The yard was being used by John Warwick, a British equine therapist who specialises in repairing tendon strains using a laser treatment. Animal medicines not licensed for use in Ireland were found in his possession and seized by the department.
The identity of the medicines has not been stated. It is also unclear what led to the raid, although it appears a private detective sat outside the yard to record the coming and going of horseboxes during the summer.