Slightly misleading title - depends how you read it. I’ve given my ideas on the whip previously and haven’t changed them. However, if racing were to keep the current rules I would prefer them to automatically disqualify any horse whose jockey breaks the rules. That would leave the whip on slow-mo replays but not with the ‘aggressive’ force used by Maguire in the National (sorry for using that example again). The present rules can be briefly found here.
On another level, were the whip to be banned, say, after the final fence, or throughout, it would have implications on global rules, particularly on the flat (probably not at all on the jumps). Currently, from what I can see, there are no global rules, such as Fifa’s in football, which is quite handy. Also, were Britain to make changes, they would maybe be copied across the world rather than there be a boycott. Things would probably stay as they are for the immediate future with foreign jockeys adapting. Whether trainers will not want to come to the UK is a question I cannot answer but it’s worth asking.
I’d also be interested as to whether point-to-point racing would change its rules in line with any ban. I wouldn’t go anywhere near suggesting I know what the point-to-point rules are and would guess the disciplinary system isn’t up to much, but given that many jockeys come through these ranks it would seem strange for them to begin their careers using a whip in finishes and when becoming professional to stop.
This is my third and, I hope, final post on the whip for now. The debate continues and, as normal for a blogger, it’s been hard to resist giving my opinion. But this blog was not meant for constant talk about the whip and as I imagine for many in racing, they’d rather talk about something else. So would I.
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