Commission proposes limit on jockey’s use of whip

June 17, 2020

Steve Rogers,

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – “Spare the rod, spoil the child.”

It’s an old adage from the Bible that has made its way into just about every parenting book in some shape form or fashion.

Now it may become part of horse racing in Kentucky.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission voted Tuesday to impose a limit of six strikes with a whip by a jockey during a race and a steep system of fines to get violators’ attention. The rules still must go through public comment, legislative review and committee meetings but it has people in the industry talking, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.

According to the newspaper and rules posted as part of Tuesday’s meeting discussion, a first offense could cost a rider 30 percent of their earnings for a seventh strike in a graded stakes race, An eighth strike could be 60 percent and a ninth could take the entire purse plus add a one-day suspension.

Jockeys who continue to violate could end up with suspensions as long as 10 days, according to the newspaper.

But don’t get too wound up yet. The Commission has built in some discretion for track stewards and jockeys. For example, the whip can be used in backhanded or underhanded manner during the first furlong and to tap a horse on the shoulder if the whip is held in a downward position and both hands are on the reins and touching the horse’s neck, the Courier-Journal reported.

Likewise, jockeys don’t face a penalty if judges think the whip was used for the safety of horses or jockeys.

“We can’t be perceived as hitting horses,” Churchill Downs director of racing Mike Ziegler said during Monday’s KHRC committee meetings according to the newspaper. “We can’t hit horses anymore. That’s the ultimate reason we’re talking about this.”

According to the Courier-Journal, California last week restricted jockeys to the same limits but imposed a maximum $1,000 fine. In both states, after two successive strikes, riders would be required to allow horses a chance to respond before wielding the whip again.