- Battle Over Racecourse Saunas Escalates
- PJA vs. BHA: Clash of Interests
- Weight and Dehydration Concerns in Horse Racing
In the latest dispute between the British Horseracing Authority and Britain’s Flat jockeys, battle lines have been drawn and trenches have been dug, and both factions appear destined for a protracted conflict.
At issue is the racecourse bathhouse, which was a daily stop for generations of jockeys until Covid-19 prompted its closure to prevent the spread of the virus when Horses racing was conducted behind closed doors. The Professional Jockeys’ Association asserts that a majority of its members now desire the return of saunas. While the British Horseracing Authority is equally adamant that this will not occur.
Neither party appears willing to back down, and both claim to care for riders.
While the PJA is concerned with the day-to-day impact and practicalities of operating without racecourse saunas, as well as the potential impact on the physical and mental health of jockeys, the BHA takes a broader view of the dangers of frequent, short-term dehydration – perhaps daily. It also notes that 88% of the 190 jockeys who responded to a PJA survey supported the decision to close racecourse saunas permanently after the pandemic and that it was part of a larger plan to significantly upgrade weighing-room facilities, which also had the riders’ full support.
The BHA and its medical adviser, Dr. Jerry Hill, consider dehydrated jockeys as a threat to themselves and others.
Not an obvious or overpowering risk, but one that many individuals take for years and get away with. Until one day they don’t, at which point everyone questions why it was permitted in the first place.
PJA members compete daily for transportation and know their livelihoods may depend on losing weight before a race. A rider’s worst dread is to be defeated by a short head while carrying an extra pound of weight.
From the BHA’s perspective, however, this is where everything becomes a disaster. The Authority must balance the interests and concerns of all parties involved. While owners and trainers despise jockeys who ride horses that are overweight. They are also concerned about horses’ persistent, covert weight rise.
Flat runners are still maturing as racehorses mature at five years old. Particularly for two-year-olds, the actual weight they bear will eventually become a potential welfare concern.
When saunas were prohibited in 2020, flat jockeys were allowed to weigh 3lb more without being deemed “overweight.” This allowance was in addition to the 3lb allowance for their body protector.
The Authority considers bettors since any disparity between listed weights and actual weights carried affects bettors. This was an additional consideration when the BHA moved to make the sauna prohibition permanent.
The PJA supported the sauna prohibition on the condition that the 3-pound allowance would be maintained. The BHA ultimately increased all published weights by 2 pounds and the body-protector allowed to 4 pounds. Theoretically, this should have equated to the same thing. But what appeared to be a logical solution on paper has failed to hold up in jockeys’ daily lives.
Cycling weights were expected to increase from 8st 10lb to 8st 12lb. They still cannot decline rides at 8st 10lb and seek ways to decrease weight.
Tom Marquand, who is presently second in the jockeys’ championship, stated on the most recent episode of the Final Furlong Podcast that some jockeys are using the sauna at local gyms for £20 or £30 each.
Others, more worrisomely, are driving to the races, frequently for several hours, with the heating on full blast. Which is right up there with driving to Barnard Castle to test your eyesight on the list of Things You Should Never Do.
So, where does this situation lead? The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) is persuaded that the ban on racecourse saunas is in the best long-term interests not only of jockeys but also of the sport as a whole. As part of the general improvement of weighing-room facilities, the sauna has been removed from a significant number of racetracks, and it would be prohibitively expensive to place them all back.
Therefore, if, as seems likely, saunas are eliminated permanently, the BHA may need to find an alternative method to reallocate or conceal the return of the 3lb Covid allowance. Otherwise, we’re in for months of simmering rage in the weighing room and jockeys on the highway in the middle of summer with the heat turned up to 11.
