Punishments for whip offences do not fit the crime – plus the Twitter tipsters who do my head in

PLEASE, move along, there is absolutely nothing to see here.

The current whip situation in this country is totally fine and if you would all like to continue on your merry way that would be greatly appreciated.

Remember during the second Gulf War when that Iraqi bloke, who was dubbed Comical Ali, used to go on the news claiming everything was hunky-dory while buildings were blowing up in the background?

Alright, maybe that’s a bit niche. How about the scene in Naked Gun when Frank Drebin, played by the late, great Leslie Nielsen, asks a crowd of onlookers to disperse as a fireworks factory ignites behind him?

That’s what it feels like in UK racing at the moment.

There have been 95 suspensions totalling a whopping 541 days in just seven weeks since the new whip rules were introduced. That is insane.

There was plenty of uproar initially and even a threat of a jockeys’ strike – but it all fizzled out to nothing.

Some of the rules, particularly the ones regarding ‘over shoulder height’ and ‘time to respond’, need some serious tinkering.

Yes, the jockeys deserve all the credit in the world for getting through Cheltenham without a major whip brouhaha.

But some of the punishments going around at the minute do not fit the crime and it is jockeys who literally cannot afford time on the sidelines who are paying the price.

Rebecca Menzies became the latest trainer to voice her concerns over the new whip rules after her stable jockey, Nathan Moscrop, felt the wrath of the Whip Review Committee.

He was banned for 11 days for: “Using his whip without giving his mount time to respond on two occasions and once above the permitted level of seven.”

If you watch his effort on Piaff Bubbles at Carlisle on March 26 back, it is surely the most inoffensive ride to earn an 11-day ban in the long history of this great game.

To my eye, a handful of his eight uses of the whip were merely flicks down the neck, while he wasn’t exactly using his whip like a windmill up the run-in.

It won’t hurt the pockets of the weighing room’s top earners if they miss time, but for the Moscrop’s of the world it could cause serious financial hardship.

And the only reason our jocks are going through this needless stress is to appease a section of the population who don’t give a toss about the sport.

It must be said, the Professional Jockeys’ Association have been pathetic throughout this entire charade.

I’ve seen better leadership at my niece’s toddler play group – the PJA have hung their members out to dry, pure and simple.

They need to grow some balls and get back round the table with the BHA because there are still issues that need to be resolved, and quickly.

IF you’re on Twitter, you will no doubt have encountered these ‘tipsters’ who charge money for people to sign up for access to their tips.

They spend half of their time bragging about how brilliant the rest of it tweeting out a ‘BOOM’ when they have a 2-5 shot that lands.

It really gets my goat when conversations on social media are spammed by these people posting screenshots of their winning bets (shock horror, we never see the losers).

I can only imagine they all have incredibly fragile egos and need constant reassurance from total strangers to make it through the day.

There are a lot of tipping tossers out there but, as became clear yesterday, there is a new top tw*t.

‘Julian’ – I have no idea what his surname is – posted a video of himself shortly after an encounter with a homeless person.

They asked him if he could spare some change – but he offered him free membership of his tipping service instead.

Unsurprisingly the homeless man said they’d prefer a bit of change, but Julian could only brag: “He doesn’t know what he just missed out on.”

Could a person be more tasteless?

Never mind charging wonga for verification ticks, Elon, please can you invent a button which mutes every single one of these irritants?

Please people, don’t give your hard-earned to these chancers.

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