An indefensible wrong is finally righted as BHA steps in to protect apprentices

Consider, for a moment, last Saturday's Ladbrokes Trophy.

Ben Jones, a conditional jockey licensed to Philip Hobbs, won the race on De Rasher Counter, a horse trained by Emma Lavelle. As jump jockeys receive nine per cent of win prize-money, Jones earned £12,813.75 on top of his riding fee. Moreover, because Jones is a conditional rider all that money went straight into his Weatherbys account.

Louis Steward forfeited 50 per cent of his prize-money to boss Michael Bell after winning the 2014 Cambridgeshire, even though his mount, Bronze Angel, was not trained by BellCredit: Edward Whitaker

Had a similar scenario occurred in a Flat race, and victory had gone to an apprentice working for an outside yard, the successful jockey would have lost half the prize-money to the trainer holding his or her licence. As such, when Louis Steward in 2014 landed the Ebor, Cambridgeshire and Balmoral Handicaps, he won £28,993 in prize-money but forfeited 50 per cent, namely £14,496, to his boss, Michael Bell, even though none of the victories came on Bell-trained horses.