One of the great challenges of National Hunt racing is clearing the fences – both for the horse doing the jumping and the jockey doing their level best to hang on for the ride.
Sometimes, a horse will fall and, other times, the horse will remain upright but the jockey will be unseated – unless, you might think, a rider can re-mount their horse and get to the finish line.
But are they actually allowed to do this? Ans would bets stand if a jockey re-mounted their horse?
Unseated Riders Rules
For many years – in fact, more than a century – jockeys were allowed to re-mount their horses.
Of course, the ground they have lost in the standard race after being unseated means there was little point – by the time they and their horse were upright, the rest of the field had left them eating their dust.
But in small field races, there was the lure of prize money – simply getting to the finish line in one piece could result in a small payday. And, of course, when multiple horses fall there could be opportunities to be had.
Many would agree that A.P. McCoy is one of the greatest jockeys that there’s ever been – a winner of many of the sport’s majors and the champion jockey crown multiple times over. But even he had his falls… including one fateful day in 2002 when he re-mounted his horse in a race at Southwell – and still went on to win.
The Irishman was aboard Family Business in the race, and given that they were the 8/11 favourites there was particular pressure on McCoy to come up with the goods.
But they made a premature exit from the race when the horse unseated McCoy at the tenth fence, with another nine still left to take.
However, a bizarre series of events saw the other horses in the field either fall, unseat their rider or refuse to jump a fence – leaving the unlikely possibility of a void race.
McCoy, renowned for his quick thinking, sensed an opportunity. Family Business was a loose horse at this point, so the Irishman – after cadging a lift in a nearby Land Rover – located the horse, climbed back in the saddle and rode him back to the tenth fence.
Together, he and Family Business completed the rest of the course – they were duly declared the winners, much to the amazement of anybody watching on. The bookies also had no choice but to pay out on Family Business as the winner.
“Every time I looked up there was one less in the race,” McCoy said. “So I decided to go and find Family Business. It is not only the most extraordinary race I am ever likely to win but also the most extraordinary race ever run.”
However, times have since changed…
Are Jockeys Allowed to Remount?
In 2009, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) – essentially the governing body of the sport – came together to discuss whether or not to ban re-mounting.
By the November of that year, they had introduced a rule that bans jockeys from re-mounting their rides and continuing in a race, even if there’s no more fences to be jumped.
However, there are a couple of exceptions. If a jockey is unseated on their way to the start line – perhaps if the horse is spooked or misbehaves – then they are allowed to re-mount and take their place in the race.
Even at the start of the race, an unseated rider is allowed to climb back in the saddle if the starter is yet to raise their flag to signal the off.
In these scenarios, there will be a brief check on the horse to make sure that they are fit and well and ready to race – one of the reasons the rule change was implemented was to protect the welfare of horses that had fallen or refused and suffered an injury in doing so.
It came four years after a controversial race at Exeter in 2005, when the great Kauto Star had unseated rider Ruby Walsh. The Irishman was able to catch his loose horse and re-mount, with the pair getting back into the race and only losing out by a head.
However, scans later revealed that Kauto Star had suffered a potentially career-ending fractured leg, and Walsh was criticised by many within the sport for his decision to re-mount.
At the time, the BHA considered a ban on re-mounting – however, they wouldn’t act upon that sentiment until four years later.
The media manager for the BHA, Paul Struthers, commented on the decision: “The risks of allowing remounting to continue far outweigh the possible downsides, particularly given that all bets are void if there are no finishers in a race and that there are few instances of remounting anyway.”
International Law
It should be said that the ban on re-mounting is the decision of the BHA and therefore only impacts British racing – overseas, each jurisdiction has their own rules on whether or not to allow an unseated jockey to ride on.
In New Zealand, jockeys are still allowed to re-mount – which led to a remarkable victory for Aaron Kuru back in 2018.
He had been unseated by his horse, Des De Jeu, in a race at the Awapuni track. The fall knocked Kuru out of the saddle, but he still had his hands on the reins as Des De Jeu got up and continued running.
The jockey was able to haul himself back into the saddle and carry on racing – the pair going on to win in a remarkable comeback triumph.
So from a betting perspective, if you back a horse in a race on British soil and the jockey is unseated after the start, they cannot re-mount and your bet is settled as a loss.
But if you’re betting on action on international soil, it’s possible that a rider can re-mount – and even go on to win in famous fashion like Kuru.