Many parents, all governments and most racing authorities seem to forget two ancient adages that will always hold true: don’t make rules you can’t enforce and never make a threat you can’t carry out. Thus the current whip rule is a nonsense. Brought in to prevent playing into the hands of those opposed to the sport by having high-profile excess whip disasters on big race days, it has had the opposite effect. The rule is by and large scrupulously adhered to at minor meetings, where the prize does not justify abusing either the horse or the rule – and few people are watching it anyway.
The “abusive” occasions are now solely reserved for the prestige meetings where the prizes are vast and hordes of casual observers, and especially the media and those opposed to the sport, are watching intently. Just what no one wants. The reason for this, of course, is that however severe the breach, the whip rule remains the one rule whereby the breaking of it can affect the result, yet cannot result in disqualification. At present, eight strikes is the trigger for the stewards to review the race, yet even if a jockey hits the horse 37 times, he can’t lose the race!
Thus, at high-profile meetings such as the Grand National, Royal Ascot and Champions Day, races are won by short distances, when the winner has flagrantly broken the rules yet retained the race while the rider of the second has observed the rule meticulously. Not only is this unfair, but such infractions also make headline news and excite adverse media comment on what should be our showpiece days. Furthermore, as the rule stands, the other jockey in a close finish is coerced into breaking the rule himself as well, in the knowledge that, if he gets beaten for abiding by the rule, he has no chance of redress.
‘Now you be very careful to stick to the rule regarding whip use, we don’t want any bad publicity for the sport we love, do we?’
All that needs to happen to make the game fair to all, acceptable to the public, and a level playing field for the jockeys, is for the authorities to name a number of strokes of the whip that they deem to be permissible and ensure that any excess will result in disqualification. Once it is known that the authorities are man enough to enforce their own rule, however, it won’t in fact be necessary to disqualify any horses.
At the moment, before a big race, do we really think that in the paddock connections are saying to the jockey: “Now you be very careful to stick to the rule regarding whip use, we don’t want any bad publicity for the sport we love, do we?” No, what they are saying, and what is implicitly understood, is: “Now you do what you have to do to win the race and we’ll worry about any fines etc afterwards.”
Under the Prescott System, secure in the knowledge that any excess use of the whip will result in disqualification, the connection’s last words to the jockey will be: “Whatever you do, don’t hit this horse more than seven times.” And particularly so in the bigger races. The result will be that the bigger the race, the less likely it will be that an abuse of the whip rule occurs and no horse will be hit more than six times (never mind seven).
It will work, and it will work to everyone’s advantage – all that needs to happen is for the authorities to enforce their own rule: horses won’t be “abused”, jockeys will know that the rule applies to everyone and punters and connections will not see their horse beaten by a rule-breaker.
Simple, isn’t it?
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