Amateur jockeys in Britain have been hit hard by the latest BHA rule changes as from Saturday all riders in this bracket will be stood down leaving only professional and conditional riders allowed to carry on.
The BHA has made this change to the race programmes due to the ongoing crisis in the world and instead of cancelling the sport all together have made the tough decision to affect other parts of racing and amateur riders have unfortunately taken the brunt of it.
On Monday a rumour surfaced across different social media platforms that racing was set to be postponed for a number of weeks, but the BHA and Government quashed these talks and explained that elite sport would continue.
What a finish to the Festival!
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) March 13, 2020
Indefatigable (25-1) absolutely rockets home to hand @PWebberRacing a first #CheltenhamFestival victory in a thrilling Martin Pipe 👏 @Rex_Dingle pic.twitter.com/IiwaMOdgpl
However, the governing body in light of this have had to take precautions in being able to back up what they said on Monday and with new government restrictions being tightened around the definition of elite sport and grassroots sport, unfortunately amateur riders fall under the latter.
Amateur races in the programme will be changed from Saturday onwards to reflect the rule change, whilst base weights for hunter chases will be reduced to match other professional races.