Bittar wants penalties in line with breach

New British Horseracing Authority chief executive Paul Bittar admits the biggest challenge he faces over the new whip rules is getting the "proportion of the penalty aligned with the level of breach".

Australian Bittar started his new job this week and will meet with Kevin Darley, chief executive of the Professional Jockeys Association, on Friday to discuss the controversial rules.

While any immediate changes are unlikely, Bittar does accept that in some cases the current level of punishment does not necessarily reflect the severity of the offence.

"It's fair to say they've been somewhat contentious and as it's my third day in the office it would be fairly premature of me to suggest where we might get to today at the meeting with the PJA," Bittar told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"British racing puts the welfare of the horse at the heart of the sport.

"The implementation of the rules has been a challenge for us and getting the proportion of the penalty aligned with the level of breach is the challenge we face.

"By and large the rules have been successfully implemented. The biggest challenge now for us is getting the proportion of the penalties aligned when they breach the rules.

"What we've seen is that the number of offences has dropped by around 14% in the period over the last couple of months.

"What's concerning us are the breaches that are one or two over, we've seen a big drop in where they are a significant number of hits over."

The new rules were brought in after complaints were received following the death of two horses at last year's Grand National and Bittar hopes the changes made following a review will pacify its critics.

"The Grand National is a great sporting institution in Britain and the public profile of the race is critical to the success of the sport, not just domestically but internationally," he added.

"The outcomes of the review from last year have been implemented and will be in place for 2012 and we're confident the changes won't change the character of the race but at the same time increase the safety."