Is it time to dump the whip?

stupid phone, why did it insert loads of full stops in my post lol

Thanks for all the messages, she seems stable for now, certainly better than she was last night but still not out the woods.

Sorry if I was a bit snappy earlier, but was on my way back up the hospital, so just wanted to quickly post something, reading it back it was possibly a bit sharp.
 
Under the circumstances, Col, being a bit snappy is the least of your worries. Please let us know how things go - we're all sending warm wishes.
 
The executive clearly reads TalkingHorses! I reckon they decided they'd had enough of the BHA endlessly dithering and not strongly addressing yet another issue, so bugger 'em, let's do it our way.
 
Complete tosh!! I will turn my back on racing if the whip is banned or it's useful use. Are Towcester going to operate a seperate set of rules to the BHA?What a load of old rubbish!
 
Towcester can't implement the rule unless the BHA agree to it.

Anyone who advocates a whip ban might like to think on where this will all end up....after the whip the Grand National will be the target, after that NH racing, then 2yo racing.....until we're all vegans living in tents.
 
Complete tosh as well - banning the whip. Cant believe Towcester are doing this, they should spend more time looking at their own track which is permanently soft/heavy.
 
OTB: read the article. Towcester wants to use the same rules the BHA already have in place, but for the Hands & Heels series, where the whip can only be used for corrective purposes.

However, using it effectively for corrective purposes requires the response time of a cobra - this week gone we've been treated to seeing highly errant horses tanking off across the course at Windsor, where there wasn't a chance to use the whip, as the jockey on the worst offender was trying to wrestle it away from going through the rails into the woodlands. We see horses time and again smash through jump wings, refuse to line up in some NH races, refuse to enter the stalls on the Flat or, having entered them sulkily, smash their way out of them. The usefulness as a corrective measure is pretty piss-poor, imo. All the waving of the bat at some of them causes them to jink away from it, causing interference. By all means keep the thing as a security blanket, or a sop to the pro-whippers, but I've yet to see it actually help a jockey on an animal hellbent to run off madly, or not to run at all.

And if a premier race can be won by BIG BUCK'S with Ruby whipless, I think we really ought to rest the case on it being essential to larrup horses' backsides in order for them to win races. KINGSCLIFF being another example - in fact, nearly reinless as well!

There's no need to scaremonger that the reduction of the use of the whip will lead to the end of racing, but if jockeys continue to flout the rules and insist on belabouring exhausted animals, then racing will do that job for itself. People will eventually turn round and bite it if it refuses to regulate itself and to treat its raison d'etre - the horses - humanely. Anyone clamouring to keep the whip at all costs should ask themselves if they're not just talking out of their Blue Square hat. In other words, their punting is what matters - that the horse they've bet on is given a number of heavy whacks over the odds really doesn't matter in the scheme of things, so long as they can collect their winnings.

The Grand National has been a target for donkeys' years, so nothing new there. Animal Aid is the only real thorn in the side of racing, circuses, the pet trade, zoos, aquariums, dog tracks, the Kennel Club, farming, fishing, shooting and what passes for hunting. The more the public realises that its aims are not the humane treatment of animals, but the complete non-use of them at all levels, the less they're likely to be swayed by their tactics. But... that does raise the question as to why, instead of ignoring AA, the BHA doesn't put out a strong rebuttal to their protests, drawing public attention to their extremist views and aims?
 
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How will a ban leave us internationally? Will we see a reduction in runners from other countries? I don't think this should be done lightly without considering the winder implications.

I'm with Hamm on this one, don't ban it, just make the penalties far more severe. If a jockey abuses his/her use of the whip then disqualify the horse as well as giving strong penalties to offenders, repeat offenders will soon get the idea when trainers and owners aren't using them anymore.
 
Gamla Stan said:
I'm with Hamm on this one, don't ban it, just make the penalties far more severe. If a jockey abuses his/her use of the whip then disqualify the horse as well as giving strong penalties to offenders, repeat offenders will soon get the idea when trainers and owners aren't using them anymore.
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You're towing a pretty thin line doing that surely though. The only feasible way of operating such a system is surely to treat treat all whip abuse the same and reverse the result?

The idea of disqualifying horses that would not have won but for abuse of the whip (to paraphrase) is bordering on farcical, in my opinion; if we do that we might as well start upgrading the performances of horses where the jockey is deemed to have not given sufficient effort. Both are entirely subjective in all but a small handful of cases.
 
Set a clear number of allowed strikes over a specified distance (say 2 furlongs) and any jockey who exceeds that has their mount disqualified. As Hamm says, it is cheating at the end of the day.
 
Gamla Stan said:
Set a clear number of allowed strikes over a specified distance (say 2 furlongs) and any jockey who exceeds that has their mount disqualified. As Hamm says, it is cheating at the end of the day.
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Cheating is stopping horses and laying them on Betfair - that's the elephant in racing's front room - not the whip - this is getting tedious. In one way if the BHA ban the whip or implement some crazy disqualification rule if a jockey hits the horse 8 times instead of 7, It will further strenghten Irish and French racing.
 
On The Bridle said:
Cheating is stopping horses and laying them on Betfair - that's the elephant in racing's front room
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I totally agree, the time spent debating the two is way out of sync.

I do think a whip ban will weaken our racing like you mention though and misuse of the whip is a form of rule breaking/cheating to gain an unfair advantage in a race and it should be harshly punished but banning is totally over the top.
 
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