Whip abuse........again!

Colin Phillips

At the Start
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Dec 22, 2003
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Talbot Green
From the Racing Post site :

Burke banned for 24 days


rudehealth510.jpg
Keiran Burke; in winning form aboard Rude Health, may hang up his boots

Andrew King and Graham Green

CONDITIONAL jockey Keiran Burke is threatening to quit riding after being banned for seven days for marking Outside Investor, runner-up in the finale at Newton Abbot, the ban triggering his 14-day deferred suspension.

Astonishingly, Burke had been told by the BHA only on Monday morning that a three-day whip offence incurred in an Arab race at Newbury on Sunday, which he was told by the racecourse stewards would activate the deferred ban, was a mistake.

However, any feelings of relief the rider possessed on arriving at the track proved temporary, as the deferred suspension kicked in anyway when he was handed a seven-day ban for marking Outside Investor - trained by his boss Pat Rodford - down the shoulder in the 2m3f handicap hurdle.

A dejected Burke said: “This is getting ridiculous. They might as well take my licence away for good, as it seems I cannot do anything right. I may as well pack it all in, as this will do my career absolutely no good.

“I was told earlier that the Newbury deferred suspension did not count as it was an Arab race. Well, that is fine, but once again the damage had been done anyway as it was released to the press and then printed in the Racing Post.”

Also in bother with the stewards was Eamon Dehdashti, who beat Burke and Outside Investor on the Gary Brown-trained Deltic Arrow. The vet reported the ten-year-old to have returned marked with the whip.

Dehdashti was referred to the BHA for the offence, the Newton Abbot stewards having found that he'd used his whip with excessive frequency, causing the horse to be marked in an incorrect place.

Stewards' secretary Richard Westropp said: “Keiran Burke and Eamon Dehdashti were both reported by the vet to have wealed their mounts.

“In Dehdashti's case it was decided that he had used his whip over 30 times and marked the horse in the wrong place, and the stewards found that he should be referred for the offence.

“In Burke's case, they found he had marked his mountdown the shoulder and the video recording of the race showed that his use of the whip was consistent with the marking.”

Before his three rides on Monday evening, the second of which was a 16-1 winner for Nigel Hawke in the shape of VintageFabric, Burke had eerily foretold the afternoon's events, when telling the Racing Post about the Newbury debacle.

“This is getting me more and more annoyed as it goes along," said Burke. "I have got three rides today and I'm worried about riding them to the best of what I can, because I know damn well the stewards will be watching me all day. It's going to be really hard work today.”

Burke, who had initially consulted Kevin Darley at the Professional Jockeys' Association about possibly appealing the Newbury ban, added: “It does not do my career any good having it written in the paper that I'll have to serve another two weeks.

“After all the bad publicity I've had before, I'm trying to get back on track again and then I get that when the stewardsare completely wrong. It isn't very good, is it?"

The jockey was given a 40-day whip suspension in March, 14 days of which were deferred, to be activated in the event of him reoffending within six months.

The Newbury stewards were under the impression that Sunday's offence activated Burke's deferred ban - and produced a press statement to that effect - but the u-turn came on Monday morning following examination of the rulebook at Shaftesbury Avenue.

BHA spokesman Paul Struthers said: "Keiran Burke will serve the three days of that suspension.

"Had it been an offence in a normal race, then the deferred ban would have been triggered, but I've just spoken to the disciplinary department, and they wouldn't add them on for an Arab race.

"The stewards got it wrong, and it was just a misunderstanding on their part.”
Struthers added: “If a jockey had a deferred suspension hanging over them, and they picked up a ban overseas, we wouldn't tack it on then either. We would tack it on only for a ban under the rules in Britain.”

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Couple of things that strike me, Eamon Dehdashti hitting his horse THIRTY!!! times, and the fact that the offence by Burke on Sunday has been ignored, implies that it is OK to lamp the life out of an Arab..........Niiiicccce.
 
I feel you are trying to make a point here, Rory.........would you like to spit it out?!

Have you got to see whip abuse with your own eyes before you can accept that it has happened?

I feel sure the thirty flicks weren't a figment of the stewards' imaginations.
 
Have you got to see whip abuse with your own eyes before you can accept that it has happened?

I feel sure the thirty flicks weren't a figment of the stewards' imaginations.
There are two issues here Colin ~ whip abuse in terms of the application of the whip rules and associated punishment and whip abuse in terms of mistreatment of horses. If you are referring to the former, then there is no argument as both jockeys were punished accordingly. If you are talking about the latter then viewing the VT is absolutely essential. Which is it?
 
Think this is the second time a jock has said "right that´s it i´m quitting if this ban stands" - have some balls and just quit if you´re going to and if not then don´t threaten to.
 
Poor Mr Burke ... marks his horse and then seeks sympathy as this is reported nationally. How could anyone deserve such treatment? ;)
 
“This is getting me more and more annoyed as it goes along," said Burke. "I have got three rides today and I'm worried about riding them to the best of what I can, because I know damn well the stewards will be watching me all day. It's going to be really hard work today.”

All together now aggghhhhhhh. The poor thing. Having to work hard not to break the rules. I think he deserves a pat on the back for even trying to keep within the rules. Give me a break. This cowboy is having a laugh. Get a grip and move on. He knew he was being watched and still managed to break the rules. That's not stupid..........it's thick! No excuse, no sympathy, move on.
 
hes either bashed the horse ridiculously hard down the neck to be able to mark it, or its got EXCEPTONALLY thin skin... you dont mark them just with a few slaps down the neck.

You can mark some very very easily behind the saddle, but I dont know that Ive ever seen one with wheals on its neck...
 
http://www.attheraces.com/VideoConsole/?va=NEW_2008_08_04_06_1700&vaff=27

Watched it on Rory's advice, and it is hard to believe the horse was marked after that ride. None of the slaps down the shoulder appeared to be done with proper force, all done in the backhand position and more of a gee-up rather than all-out drive. Gave him one crack behind the saddle worthy of the name before the last, but not a leathering by any stretch of the imagination. I would feel hard done by if I was the jockey. Hard to know how he could do less and give it a judicious ride really.
 
I would agree that there was nothing in that ride that could be described as mistreatment of the horse.

I probably wouldn't even describe it as a hard ride.

He does appear to be a marked man.
 
Cheers Garney ~ I'm not specifically defending either jockey who both broke the rules, but it seems that both were very keen to ensure that they didn't lift the whip to any height or use excessive force with any strike (in fact, Burke kept both hands on the reins for almost every flick of the whip). It seems that by trying not to break the rules in one way, they ended up breaking them in another, either by striking the horse in the wrong place, or too often. To call either ride brutal would be enormously wide of the mark.
 
Completely agree with Garney - and I stand by my earlier comments. and yes, I had seen it.



forgot to add - Id forgotten how unpretty eds "style" is.... :)
 
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Ok, I didn't see the incident in question but I really think that it is about time that the penny dropped for Mr Burke that he cannot use a whip properly.

For starters, no matter how good/bad it looked, you are not allowed to take your hand off the reins when hitting a horse down the shoulder in a race unless you are having to take extreme measures to keep it on course - ie it won't go around a corner or it tries to run out.

Ergo, Burke has to admit that what he did was wrong.

Secondly, the horse is on the "easy to weal" list of horses. This is displayed in the weighing room/changing room on a daily basis so Burke will have been well aware that his horse marked easily. It is an offence for which you [as a jockey] will get fined if you do not read this list every day and check your mounts (more often than not the list is blank anyway).

Again, Burke has to admit that what he did was wrong.

Why can't he just hold up his hands and say "yes, I admit, I'm lethal with a whip, please someone show me how to do it properly before I peel the flesh from a horse" ?? From what I know of the BRS, they'd be only too happy to give him tuition on use of the whip, albeit probably for a fee - but let's face it, he needs it, doesn't he?

So many whip bans totting up have to tell him something.

(much like Gabriel Hannon should have deduced something from the fact that he was still claiming 7lb until a few weeks ago, now in his 30s....but that's a different story!!!)
 
Gabriel Hannon spent several years out of the game in his twenties which explains why he is still claiming 5lb. He's not a very good jockey to be fair, but the previous fact should be noted.

I'll write more on the Burke issue tomorrow which might be enlightening.
 
Secondly, the horse is on the "easy to weal" list of horses. This is displayed in the weighing room/changing room on a daily basis so Burke will have been well aware that his horse marked easily. It is an offence for which you [as a jockey] will get fined if you do not read this list every day and check your mounts (more often than not the list is blank anyway).

I never knew such a list even existed. Very interesting.
 
I can think of a few other venues where it might prove a sensible precaution to publish it too :eek: (better not go there, he won his libel case):D
 
Ok, I didn't see the incident in question but I really think that it is about time that the penny dropped for Mr Burke that he cannot use a whip properly.

For starters, no matter how good/bad it looked, you are not allowed to take your hand off the reins when hitting a horse down the shoulder in a race unless you are having to take extreme measures to keep it on course - ie it won't go around a corner or it tries to run out.

Ergo, Burke has to admit that what he did was wrong.

Secondly, the horse is on the "easy to weal" list of horses. This is displayed in the weighing room/changing room on a daily basis so Burke will have been well aware that his horse marked easily. It is an offence for which you [as a jockey] will get fined if you do not read this list every day and check your mounts (more often than not the list is blank anyway).

Again, Burke has to admit that what he did was wrong.

Why can't he just hold up his hands and say "yes, I admit, I'm lethal with a whip, please someone show me how to do it properly before I peel the flesh from a horse" ?? From what I know of the BRS, they'd be only too happy to give him tuition on use of the whip, albeit probably for a fee - but let's face it, he needs it, doesn't he?

So many whip bans totting up have to tell him something.

(much like Gabriel Hannon should have deduced something from the fact that he was still claiming 7lb until a few weeks ago, now in his 30s....but that's a different story!!!)

Easy to weal or not, Its difficult to see how he could have given it an easier ride and still be judicious. As rory points out, if punters realise which horses are easy to weal, maybe it would spare a jockey who is encouraged to go even easier, to keep off their dogs/understand that if they bet on the horse that it will not be hit in the finish. Maybe the easy to hands and heels races are the only way forward to Outside Investor.

Without knowing the horses make-up, had I backed the 3/1 shot, I would have been a little disappointed that I didnt get a more forceful ride in the saddle. On the back of that ride there is no way that Burke should hold his hands up and say ""yes, I admit, I'm lethal with a whip, please someone show me how to do it properly before I peel the flesh from a horse"
 
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Sorry Garney, I should have made myself clearer in my first post. I don't think that Burke should take a look at himself in light of this incident - I think that the penny should have dropped for him before this incident, not least since not only had he accrued several suspensions for his whip use, he had also received suspensions in another sport [Arab racing] for the same offence. So surely he should have sought some type of tuition on his whip action a long time ago? He clearly has difficulty using it correctly at the moment.

That said, I don't for a second think that this incident was a case of whip abuse, cruelty, whatever you want to call it. If respected judges say he gave it a quiet ride then I believe them. The use of the whip down the neck would possibly show that he was aware of the horse marking so doing that whilst refraining from hitting him behind the saddle.

I would question though why he'd take his hands off the reins to hit the animal down the neck when he will have known such an action is heavily frowned upon? One of the things they love to tell you is that if you hit them down the shoulder you must do so with your hands on the reins - they can't really make it a hard rule though since if a horse is hanging or running out you have to take your hand off the reins to give it one down the neck sometimes. I've been told he didn't take his hands off the reins but I am going by Rodford's quote in the RP that
Keiran's hand came off the rein three times to tap Outside Investor down the shoulder

I don't think many people know about the existence of the "easy to mark" list tbh Gareth - I think it's a fairly recent thing. Jockeys can be fined £100 for not checking their rides against the list every day they ride.
 
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