Monmouth Park
 

So did anyone watch the Monmouth no whip experiment yet? Curious to see how it turns out.

It's got merit , watch it today and I could see it being done across the Country.

Watching and wagering and will continue to do so.


And it has been beautiful. Despite racing in sloppy conditions, guess what, these horses do not need to be hit with the whip to maintain a straight path.


On the contrary, getting whipped appears to cause more drifting that hand riding. Jockeys punishing horses get them to drift as horses will shy from the whip and jocks have less control.


And guess what else. These horses have the drive to win naturally.


The wave of the future.

Looks like handle was about $1.6 million on Friday for the 6 race card and almost $3 million today on 12 races. Hard to gauge the impact no crop along with any number of other things right now since the weather has been so bad.

This will be the first opening day/weekend I will miss in about 20 years.

Couldn't agree more.:ThmbUp: Been saying it for a long time.

It's still a long way to September, but hopefully, the experiment will be a resounding success.

I'm just waiting for this to blow up in their faces...

Its coming!!!

Guarantee someone is gonna curse when their horse loses by a nose

I never understood a horse winning by 5 lengths inside the 1/16 pole and the jockey hitting him. I prefer lighter weighted crops instead of an outright ban-seems like a good compromise

:ThmbUp:

You know what I would like to see....

Use the same horse and schedule a week apart...

In the stretch.....have one run do a rigorous hand ride

The next week have the jockey whip him...

Which would make the horse run harder?

Think of THAT TIME when your horse was on that 5-length lead and losing it - AND how you would feel if the jockey never used the whip.

You'd be saying, "Couldn't he see that the horse was quitting?"

Well, hitting that horse is what he didn't do.

Sure, there are lesser jocks that have to beat the crap out of the horse instead of urging with a couple of taps because they don't know better.

THOSE are the jockeys riding at MTH right now.

Whipping the horse wouldn't make it run faster. Maybe it would keep it focused, but it might also cause it to get discouraged. Additionally, whipping a tired horse may cause it to swerve and not keep a straight line creating possible interference or worse.

Remember, the greatest rider of them all, Willie Shoemaker, one said "More horses are beaten (whipped) out of the winner's circle than into it".

I will be interested to see what "top" riders show up for the Haskell. Who will have the courage and strength to ride home a winner without assistance.

The jock on the 2 in Race 1 (Dylan Davis) did not appear to be carrying a stick. He won two races later on the card and in both I think he had no stick. It seemed on Friday night about half the jocks in each race didn't even carry one. Ferrer said he was afraid he'd use it after 37 years of rising with one. But today I noticed today that the stick is coming into play. As the jocks aggressively push on the reins and hold the stick it naturally results in the stick hitting the horse. Watch Jomar Torres here in 5/30 race 7 starting at 1:15 then again on the head-on at 4:20. The jocks have adapted quickly. Ferrer was was using it today in similar fashion. Hopefully they continue to allow this it is completely benign.

With hitting or not aside....

Jockeys boycotted riding there...Monmouth's prominent rider Joe Brovo didn't ride and was opposed to it.
Fridays opening card had only 13 jockeys ...
Replacements were on track ....
They added extra money to jocks on 1st 4 finishers ( total BS on their part)
Handle was dramatically down...

Tell me all is well at Monmouth Park!!

GB

Tell me if I'm seeing things but doesn't it seem like they are whipping the horse with their reigns?

Yes with the reins and also with the crop