I came full circle on the whip - and now I think educating people is the answer

There is a simple reason why insiders and outsiders to racing often have such profoundly different attitudes towards the use of the whip in the sport. Reasoned debate sits out of reach due to radically different levels of understanding about the whip and how it is used in racing.

The whip remains a divisive subject. For a long time, it was the image that prevented me – and I suspect many of my early 20s generation – from embracing the sport. Is it ever acceptable to hit an animal? Should we be using animals for sport? These questions nagged at me and were only answered once I was an 'insider' in the racing world.

Most of my city-dwelling peers without a moment's hesitation deride use of the whip as cruel and old-fashioned: a barbarous legacy of a sport which they consider exploitative and outdated.