NATURALLY enough, Paul Nicholls is breathing fire over the fact that his stable jockey, Lorcan Williams, is ruled out of the Cheltenham Festival with a whip ban. The multiple champion trainer is particularly, it seems to me, annoyed about the timing of the introduction of the new rules.

With respect to Nicholls, and to the many riders who are impacted by the new regulations, there is never a good time to introduce new rules. There will always be some fallout, and there will be no shortage of sob stories about missed opportunities.

The real question is whether or not there is a need for the new rules, and that is a wider and more emotive debate.

The initial, and admittedly scant, evidence so far would suggest that lack of experience is key when you look at the lists of riders who have so far fallen foul of the new rules. In that case, more education is going to be needed to help these jockeys adapt. Leading riders, with the exception of Williams, would appear to have made the changes needed, and are aware of what is required of them.

Will things be different when it comes to the cauldron that is Cheltenham? You bet they will. Will there be lots of comment and reaction to some of the big races finishes? Of course.

For that reason, it is imperative for the good of the sport, and for the social licence we enjoy, that jockeys are seen to always do their best, and that claims of abuse are not easily thrown at them from the wider world.

We can be unhappy about how vociferous the anti-racing brigade are, and how much airplay and column inches they get, but we must not give them fuel for their arguments. We must not just cow-down either, and simply accept that they are always right.

However, we have to be careful when picking our fights, and be certain we will be proven to be correct. Otherwise we are shooting ourselves in the foot.

It is going to be a difficult few weeks, with the eyes of the racing world, and the non-racing world, firmly focused on National Hunt racing. I have great faith in our riders that they can deal with these new regulations.

There is no going back now, so the focus has to be on the future. What’s done is done, and the time for shouting and complaining is over. The rules are here to stay. Let’s make them work.