A whiff of sanity has entered the whip rules crisis...There's been yet another change, and this time it's a good one with jockeys now given discretion to use the whip over the final 100m of a race. But the decision only points up the stupidity of the original decision to restrict whip use and then the second decision to have a count of 7...The crisis that never should have been is now defused, though racing's image has taken a battering.This latest backflip by the Australian Racing Board means v
A whiff of sanity has entered the whip rules crisis...There's been yet another change, and this time it's a good one with jockeys now given discretion to use the whip over the final 100m of a race. But the decision only points up the stupidity of the original decision to restrict whip use and then the second decision to have a count of 7...The crisis that never should have been is now defused, though racing's image has taken a battering.
This latest backflip by the Australian Racing Board means very simply that it has rightly bowed to industry and public pressure. Faced with overwhelming opposition to its hotchpot of 'count the whip strokes' the ARB now agrees to giving jockeys what they want and need -- the right to unlimited though not excessive use of the whip in the final 100m. Basically, we are back where we started, before the crisis was brought to life by the Board in its desire to appease a few hardline extremists in the 'cruelty to animals' groups. The new rules that will be trialled until February 1 break a race into two stages, before the 100-metre mark and the 100-metre mark to the winning post. Jockeys will only be allowed to use the whip five times and not in consecutive strides before the final 100 metres of a race. Over the final 100 metres, jockeys are permitted to exercise discretion in their use of the whip.