Cheltenham festival crackdown aimed at stalling significant rise in false starts

The British Horseracing Authority said on Thursday that it aims to introduce a series of measures before next year’s Cheltenham festival to tackle a significant rise in the number of false starts at National Hunt’s showpiece meeting. The percentage of false starts has climbed steadily over the past five years, from 18% in 2022 to nearly 40% at the 2026 meeting. The rate of false starts in jump racing is around 4% over the same period.

A review of this year’s meeting identified particular problems at the starts for races over two and two-and-a-half miles, which begin near a bend. Proposed remedies include changes to the track layout at these starts “to reduce natural field congestion and acceleration” and make it easier for riders to line up across the track.

The Authority also plans to introduce a “live audio recording system” at the start to capture instructions given by the starter to riders, which will feed directly to the stewards’ room.

Measures proposed for all British jumps tracks include the introduction of a “physical, highly visible start zone” in which a starter is able to start a race, to prevent situations when a field sets off well before the tapes. There is also an amendment to the rule covering all jump-racing starts that allows riders to approach the tapes at “a walk or jig-jog”. This will change to “walking pace” from the start of the “core” jumps season in October.

The Authority also plans to introduce a “tiered penalty structure”, similar to the framework that exists around the whip rules. This will significantly increase the penalties for jockeys found in breach of the rules before a Class One or Class Two race at any track.

“We hope these changes will lead to an improvement to starts at the festival and across jump racing,” said Cathy O’Meara, the BHA’s Head of Raceday Officials. “But success also depends on everyone involved doing their part to observe the starting procedures.

“We will monitor how these measures bed in through 2027 and continue to refine them where necessary to ensure the best possible experience for horses, jockeys and racing fans.”

The proposed changes are recommendations and there will be further discussions with all stakeholders and consideration given to trial periods before full implementation. Negotiations with the Professional Jockeys’ Association over the scale of increased penalties for rule breaches could be extensive.

The proposal to send live audio from the start to the stewards’ room is intriguing in light of the high-profile incident at this year’s meeting when the leading British-based rider Nico de Boinville was accused of directing “racist abuse” at Declan Queally before the start of the two-and-a-half mile Turners Novice Hurdle.

Shaun Parker, the BHA’s head of stewarding, said on Thursday that while the primary reason for the audio feed would be to “given an indication of what’s happening with regards to instructions from the starter”, the stewards also “look at all aspects” of any potential disciplinary matter so “the stewards will avail themselves of all evidence they can regarding any particular matter.”