Whip crackdown continues as international federations agree to curb excessive use

Use of the whip, which remains a major topic of discussion in Britain after the implementation of rule changes this week, has come on the international regulatory agenda, with a view to outlawing the most obvious example of excessive use.

The International Federation of Horseracing Authorities’ (IFHA) harmonisation of raceday rules committee, meeting in Melbourne ahead of the three-day Asian Racing Conference, agreed to promote measures that will strengthen guidelines in the international agreement by preventing riders from using the whip over consecutive strides.

However, no attempt will be made yet to suggest numerical restrictions on the use of the whip.

Committee chairman Kim Kelly, who stood down as chief stipendiary steward of the Hong Kong Jockey Club in January but will remain in position as a consultant, said: “We agreed that taking forward a proposal to prevent jockeys from using the whip on consecutive strides, without giving their mount time to respond, was a sensible first step to examining this important welfare issue. But we also felt it was impossible to lay down guidelines on numbers.”

Kelly, whose fellow committee members include Brant Dunshea, the BHA’s chief regulatory officer and a member of the whip review committee, pointed out that while the IFHA’s guidelines form the basis of minimum standards around the world, rules vary enormously, especially on the number of hits allowed.

He said: “Permitted use ranges from 12 strikes in South Africa to no limits in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore, while Norway has stopped the carrying of whips altogether and in Sweden and Denmark it’s carried only for safety purposes. Britain, Ireland and France have reduced the times the whip can be used, but the numbers differ from country to country, and in Australia it can be used no more than five times up to the 100-metre mark but after that there is no limit.

“With so many variations, there is very little prospect of achieving unanimity on numbers, but we believe we can move forward to reduce excessive use.”

Kelly’s committee also turned its attention to suspension of riders, prompted by the implementation of a two-month ban for Christophe Soumillon that came into effect two weeks after he had elbowed fellow jockey Rossa Ryan out of the saddle during a race at Saint-Cloud.

“We believe the ban should have started straight away,” Kelly said, “and that’s what we will be suggesting is written into the international agreement. It’s not in the interests of anyone – the jockey who has been suspended or those who go out to ride against him in the period before he starts a suspension – to delay matters as happened with Soumillon.”

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