Fury, lawsuits but 'no flailing away': how US no-whip racing has been received

"It is difference of opinion that makes horse races," as Mark Twain said, and on that basis the sport should be thriving in the state of New Jersey, where stringent new whip rules were brought into force a fortnight ago.

Monmouth Park, home of the Haskell Invitational, has become the site for what is effectively a public experiment aimed at discovering what happens when jockeys are banned from using the whip to encourage their mounts forward in races. The move has led to anger and litigation, although some observers see that response as wildly overblown.

Now that races are taking place, looking similar in most respects to races elsewhere in the US, controversy has not subsided, with repeated claims of a decline in betting turnover and argument as to how that should be interpreted. The obvious next flashpoint would seem to be the first time a jockey is found in breach of the rules, which could lead to a five-day suspension, a $500 fine and forfeiture of prize-money for merely showing the whip to a horse, penalties which are supposed to double for each subsequent offence by that rider.