We have now had three periods of the ‘core’ jump racing season since the jump race starting procedures were changed in October 2014, writes Emma Marley, Head of Raceday Operations.

You can see the full raft of changes in the original press release here, but the overall aim was to provide greater procedural clarity for both starters and jockeys and to simplify the procedures that existed previously.

As you can see from the data below, there has been a dramatic reduction in both the number of false starts and rider suspensions resulting from false starts in the time since the changes were introduced and before the new changes were brought in.

‘Core’ Jump Racing – Last 3 seasons

The percentage of races with false starts has dropped by over 50%, despite the fact there are 51 more races in the data sample than three years ago. The number of suspensions resulting from false starts is also down over 30%.

Credit must go to both the riders and starters in adjusting and adhering to the new processes, which are clearly paying dividends and ensuring a fairer, simpler and more consistent starting procedure to jump races.