Grand National winner Paul Carberry has become the latest Irish jockey to hit out at the controversial new whip rules enforced in Britain.
Rules unlikely to effect trips to Britain
Grand National winner Paul Carberry has become the latest Irish jockey to hit out at the controversial new whip rules enforced in Britain.
Compatriot Ruby Walsh was handed a five-day suspension when riding at Aintree on Saturday for hitting his mount, Edgardo Sol, once more than the permitted eight under the new National Hunt sanctions.
Walsh, who has strong ties with Paul Nicholls in England and Willie Mullins in his homeland, indicated afterwards he planned to make less trip across the Irish Sea unless the rules were altered.
Irish Flat jockey Johnny Murtagh followed suit earlier this week, stating he would not be travelling to England as often due to fears he could receive a ban for a minor infringement.
Carberry, who won the 1999 Aintree spectacular on Bobbyjo, generally only makes the journey to England for the higher-profile meetings but feels just as strongly about the revised rules.
Infrequent visitor
"I don't come over too often anyway, especially for the smaller meetings during the week, so it won't effect me as much as others," said Carberry.
"I don't agree with the rules and I don't think they are going to be great for the big meetings at Cheltenham and things like that.
"I came over for Cheltenham earlier this month and you are thinking about it (use of the whip) all the time instead of focussing on riding a race. For me, there is just no common sense being shown.
"The stewards are there to do a job on the day and now they just count how many times a jockey hits a horse.
"I think I might be coming over to Ascot on Saturday to ride Muirhead, so we'll see how we get on there.
"I don't use the whip all that much anyway, so hopefully it won't effect me too much. We'll just have to see."
