2nd December 2015, 11:43 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Jan 1970
Posts: 4,424
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Perhaps I'm in the minority.
I do believe that a whip should be used in the case of straightening up the mount or in the case of rider safety. (e.g. a rider had his leg crushed on the running rail prior to the new rails that were introduced).
The rule of no more than five times prior to the 100m mark is open ended and needs to be modified.
A jockey could whip the horse when it has no chance whatsoever.
It could also mean a horse is whipped five times in 200m at the start of a race. Crazy and cruel.
Jockeys are still free to whip every other stride within the 100m mark.
Acceptable? Perhaps.
Whatever happened to the masters of hands and heels?
"Articulate Man (NZ) - rider Dale Smith stated the gelding, which was having its first race start today, did not respond to his riding in the middle stages and the early part of the straight, and as he was only able to use his whip on five occasions prior to the 100m, he felt this was detrimental to the horses performance. Stewards noted his explanation."
He must be joking, the horse finished 10.95L behind the winner, prior to this had trialled twice at Cranbourne finishing 7th of 8 and 5th of 6.
The horse has either joint or lower hoof problems because he's worn concussion plates on soft ground. Normally these are worn from jarring up on firmer ground. In a nutshell, the horse has issues, no wonder he did not respond in the middle and early part of the straight. I believe the horse was in pain, to whip the horse would have been inhumane in this situation.
Antonaire- G. Buckley was reprimanded (AR 137A (5) (a) (ii)) for using the whip on the gelding on more than five occasions (7) before the 100m.
Finished 6th of 11, but only 1.7L from the winner. Excessive use of the whip did not result in a win and it was a blanket finish, so the pace must have been a cracker. The horse was 8th@800m and 10th@400m and jumping up in class. Question remains for me, whipping the horse 7 times when horses were all making the same headway and running over the top of him, is this justified?
Interest Free- Began awkwardly losing ground (2L). G. Coleman was reprimanded (AR137A (5) (a) (ii)) for using the whip on the gelding on more than five occasions (10) before the 100m. In assessing penalty stewards took into account this was the first occasion in which G. Coleman had offended under this rule in the past five years
10 occasions over 1300m, that's possibly once every 130m but probably much much worse.
Horse has only won once in 42 starts. Despite the heavy use of the whip, horse finished 14th of 14 10.9L.
This is where I personally draw the line in these instances, if a horse is losing ground, not up to the speed, being run past, or simply outclassed, why whip a horse trying it's best, especially when battling issues. It just doesn't cut it.
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