Jockeys are the whipping boys of racing

The issue of riding crops, or whips, has the racing world in a lather – for the umpteenth time in recent years.

Popular jockey S’Manga Khumalo got a smack from the National Horseracing Authority (NHA) this week for exceeding a limit on crop strikes to a horse. The former national champion was handed both a 14-day suspension from riding and a R54,500 fine by the game’s policemen.

This is a heavy penalty and stems partly from Khumalo’s record as a serial offender with the whip.

This wasn’t in any old race, the misdemeanor was in the Hollywoodbets Durban July at Greyville a fortnight earlier. Khumalo finished a close runner-up on the four-year-old colt Cousin Casey – just 0.30 lengths behind winner Oriental Charm.

‘Not warranted’

After watching the race videos, an inquiry board concluded that Khumalo had used his whip 15 times on Cousin Casey – three more strikes than the maximum of 12 allowed.

A press release declared that the crop misuse “was not warranted when considering the circumstances of the race”.

Khumalo pleaded guilty but was given the right of appeal against the sentence.

Worth noting in this case was that Oriental Charm’s winning jockey, JP van der Merwe, copped a 16-day suspension soon after the finish for allowing his horse to shift inwards and hamper See It Again, who ended up fifth.

The whip in racing has long been a hot issue in racing around the world.

The arguments revolve around perceptions of cruelty, the need to attract new fans to the game in a world acutely sensitive to animal welfare, whether horses feel pain like humans do, whether the modern padded crop inflicts pain or not, the imperative for riders to control horses in dangerous situations, if horses actually run faster if they feel or hear a crack, if raising the crop above shoulder and/or hip height should be prohibited, and whether all “persuaders” should be banned.

‘No whips’ race

The Khumalo case has some people saying we should reduce the permitted number of strikes – to, say, the six of the UK and Australia.

South Africa made headlines in 2018 when it staged a “no whips” race at Turffontein on Charity Mile Day, with racing journals around the world carrying major stories lauding the initiative. But not much came of that experiment.

At that time, top trainer Mike de Kock and ace jockey Piere Strydom were quoted by the US’s authoritative Thoroughbred Daily News as saying they were not in favour of whips, though Strydom did say they might still be acceptable if used in a very limited way – with, say, a tap on the shoulder to maintain a straight path and communicate the right moment to accelerate.

If the Khumalo incident has aggravated a sore point about winning at all costs, another side of the competitive situation has been highlighted by jockey Robert Khathi, who has been embroiled in a legal battle with the NHA over an accusation that he didn’t try hard enough in a race.

Khathi got a whopping 120-day suspension for the way he rode at Greyville in October 2023. Officials said he “failed to ride Cape Eagle out with sufficient vigour and determination which, in the opinion of the stewards, had a bearing on the result of the race”.

Khathi, who had pleaded not guilty, was devastated. While he has had moderate success in a 20-year career in the irons, four months out of work would have been devastating for him, his wife and four children – with loss of their home threatened.

A pair of concerned owners – attorney Bruce Armstrong and advocate Claton Vetter – took on his case pro bono and, after a long, messy process, got an NHA appeal board to overturn the verdict and penalty.

A perusal of the video of the race, the Michaelmas Handicap, shows why the legal eagles intervened.

Baffling and unjust sentence

Cape Eagle, a known frontrunner, is the pacemaker and is challenged on both sides in the closing stretch, by eventual winner Royal Victory on the inside rail and Pirate Prince on his outside. The latter, who is clearly moving faster, rolls in on Cape Eagle, whose head turns towards the looming threat. Khathi appears to try to swap his whip between hands to avoid a coming-together. But Royal Victory is going better than both and wins.

The winning distances are 0.10 lengths and 0.10 lengths.

Khathi might have become unbalanced and conceded a stride in the close finish, but it is certainly arguable that there are far worse riding performances on racecourses around the country every day of the week.

Interestingly Khathi had completed four wins in a row on Cape Eagle prior to the Michaelmas. Also, trainer Andre Nel saw fit to give him the ride on the same horse two weeks later, in a Pinnacle Stakes, when he finished runner-up to the ultra-classy See It Again.

The harsh sentence for that one race was baffling and ultimately unjust.

Who’d be a jockey? If you infringe in trying too hard to win the country’s biggest race, you’re in big trouble. If someone thinks you’re not trying hard enough … same thing.