Horse Racing - New Whipping Rules

[Trina]

What do you guys think of it?

I've seen it on SSN over the last few weeks.

New rules are:

Maximum seven strokes in Flat races and eight over jumps
Only five times after last obstacle or in final furlong

The punishment is

5 day suspension
Forfeit prize money or Riding Fee
2nd offence will be double 1st punishment

On Saturday, Christophe Soumillon was banned for five days and forfeited £50,000 after using his whip one more time than the maximum in the last furlong when guiding Cirrus Des Aigles to victory in Britain's richest race, the £1.3m Champion Stakes at Ascot.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/horse_r ... 329724.stm

They are now reviewing the new rules as so many people are kicking off about them and will decide by the end of the week.

[Zedie]

Im not sure how you would measure it, but is there proof that the whips actually hurt the horses? I could see how getting whacked by one of them could hurt a human, but horses are huge and basically made predominantly of muscle.

[Yorkyblue]

It's an absolute joke. You can't even use your whip to move your horse out of the way. If you do it's a 5 day ban instead of 2 day ban for just obstructing on purpose (as there is nothing you could do).

They jumped into this. They should of sat down with jockeys and discussed the best way to work it before just saying 'this starts in 2 weeks'.

[Maxduke]

Stopping sports where animals are hit/hurt in any way would be the best solution.

[Yorkyblue]

Horses that are raced live a life of luxury. The ones stuck in fields tied to 2 meters of rope for years on end are the ones I feel sorry for.