Too many whips: Jockey feels the lash of new punishment regime

A group of PVC-clad dominatrices arrived at Newmarket racecourse in the UK a few years ago and suggested, forcefully, that the gentry assembled in the paddock offer up their rumps for a whipping.

The masterful madams said racing people had been bad, bad boys and girls to allow jockeys to use riding crops on horses and might benefit from a taste of their own medicine. Strictly speaking, these women were animal rights activists in S&M garb.

Rather surprisingly, there were no takers among the toffs at Newmarket. British men, in particular, have a reputation for enjoying a spot of firm correction from an authoritative female figure.

We need this sort of protest in this country. It beats the hell out of shouting limp points of order in parliament. And, goodness knows, we need the discipline.

Nathan Klink punished

This memory came to mind when the National Horseracing Authority announced this week it had administered punishment upon young Nathan Klink, a jockey who’d broken rules on the use of a whip in a race.

New penalty guidelines on undue wielding of the “persuader” were introduced in April and Klink became the first to feel their sting. After admitting his guilt to the stipendiary stewards, he received not only a seven-day suspension but also a R20,000 fine.

The jockey managed to get 25-1 shot Time Spirit up on the line to edge out 28-10 favourite Absolute Value in an MR68 Handicap at the Vaal last week. But it took him 17 whacks to do it.

He ’fessed up to striking the five-year-old gelding five times over the 12 limit.The new guidelines are clear. If he’d kept it to 16 smacks, the fine would have been R10,000 and he’d have been spared the “holiday”. For 18, he’d have got 14 days off and a R25,000 klap.

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The smarting would have been somewhat soothed by Klink’s memory of his proudest moment in racing, which came just days earlier when he won the biggest race in Zimbabwe, the Castle Tankard at Borrowdale, aboard Ideal View for trainer Debra Swanson.

The use of the whip in racing has been a sore point for years, and every so often erupting as animal rights groups cry cruelty.

Both the UK and the US have recently amended their rules, bringing the number of strikes allowed per race down to just six. They have various complicated adjuncts involving use of the whip from above the shoulder in a “proportionate manner”, the perceived impact of the action, allowing time between each two blows for the horse to respond to the “reminder”, and so on. Also, there are distinctions between
whips used “forehand” and “backhand”.

Jockeys in trouble

The semantics are confusing, as British jockeys discovered when their new rules came in during February this year. In the first week, 19 jockeys found themselves in trouble – the first being female jumps rider Charlotte Jones, whose mount at Ayr racecourse was disqualified after she exceeded the ceiling by four strikes.

Almost all people in racing are aware of the usefulness of the riding crop in training – in controlling, correcting and guiding a young or wayward horse. Yet few believe in unfettered use. And some horses do not respond well to a whip crack and, instead of speeding up, go on a go-slow protest. It’s a complex issue.

Australian jockeys periodically go on strike over new rules. You could say they down whips, but they are making the opposite point.

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Most countries mandate a foam-padded crop that is allegedly more noisy than painful. But it doesn’t look good when a TV close-up shows a jockey whirling that padded stick aloft.

Whether the racing industry likes it or not, most people these days are bothered about animal welfare, even if ignorant of what the critters actually feel or the physical realities of handling them every day. That has implications for the image of the game and for attracting new followers.

So, whip restrictions are necessarily strict – and might get stricter.

This doesn’t mean we should be against all whipping. Public flogging of corrupt politicians sounds like progress.