British racing’s latest attempt to impose once-and-for-all rules on use of the whip began on Monday at Catterick, Plumpton and Wolverhampton, with the hope that the fresh toughening of the regime will not generate the same controversy and negative publicity as the last line-in-the-sand moment in the autumn of 2011. […]
Whip rules
11 posts
Several important questions were left hanging with regard to British racing’s latest row over the whip rules when the cold snap arrived on Saturday to wipe out much of this week’s jumping programme. Why now, when the new rules, which are due to come into force on 6 February after […]
Controversy and recrimination once more featured in the aftermath to the Melbourne Cup, Tuesday’s running of the famous Australian race being marred by the death of last year’s Derby winner, Anthony Van Dyck, while a record fine of A$50,000 (£27,430) was handed out to the jockey Kerrin McEvoy for a […]
There is no benefit to jockeys using a whip in horse racing, according to a world-first study that found there was no difference in race times and rider safety between races where whipping is permitted and apprentice races that ban the use of whips. The study is a boon to […]
Racing’s whip rules are once more to be the subject of heated debate, following the punishment meted out to Martin Harley for an obvious breach of them while winning on Gulliver at York on Saturday. Kulbir Sohi, owner of the runner-up, Tranchee, is outraged that a winner is allowed to […]
Stan Mellor, whose death was announced on Saturday at the age of 83, was Britain’s champion National Hunt jockey three times, the first rider to reach 1,000 jumps winners and also a successful trainer later in his career. He may be best remembered, though, as the jockey who pulled off […]
The three-day ban handed to Brian Hughes this week has been suspended and it appears unlikely that the title-race leader will have to serve it after all. Hughes was punished by the stewards at Carlisle after weighing in 5lb light but protested at the time that he had done nothing […]
The British Horseracing Authority has made clear its concern that use of the whip for encouragement could be banned by a future government, issuing a swift response on Wednesday to a Labour Party “animal welfare manifesto” published 24 hours earlier which called for an “independent review” to establish if whipping […]