A new era?

I'm just off to Salisbury. I hope that it will be a nice day for heading down to that lovely part of the world: it's very mild, it's dry and it's bright enough. I hope that those conditions should also ensure that the ground is on the fast side, which is Ethics Girl's preferred surface, although, to give her her due, she (pictured three weeks ago) tends to run well whatever the conditions. It'll be one of those Flat races without stalls; they usually see about a third of the field lose their chance in the first few seconds, so we'll have to hope that she isn't one of them. As well as staying alert at the start, the jockeys will have to stay alert at the finish: today is the first day of the new whip regulations which are causing so much angst. I can't say that I'm particularly exercised on the subject. The whip rules have changed a few times in recent years and we've coped in the past; and at least they are easy to understand now, which hasn't always been the case. No doubt we'll discuss the subject more fully anon, but basically one of the principal objections - that the results of some races will be different as a result of the changes - leaves me completely unmoved: there's still going to be a winner come what may, and if it's a different one because of a rule change, does that matter? One could make the same point about rules on numerous subjects - eg interference, medication - and I just take the view that it's up to us to learn what the rules are and play within them. We'll just have to see how things pan out, starting today.