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It used to be that the jockeys had these very solid whips, made of bull's penises if memory serves, and if they could knock the little doohickey that the horses wear on their heads off, the horse was DQ'd so to speak.
But the image of jockeys beating a riderless horse over the head with a whip became...untenable. So they did away with that aspect of the race. They also have been way more strict in vetting the horses. They had a recent Palio where the judges scratched several horses basically at the gate after what must have been a record number of false starts (reminded me of French harness racing's circle start debacles).
I actually think it would probable be safer for all concerned without the jockeys---it seems the horses have the good sense to de-accelerate into the turns, moreso than the jocks. Seems that most of the fallers this year lost their footing, including what would have been a sure winner with a lap or so to go.
Irad would have been very proud of the winner, horse put his main rival in tight quarters right at the end causing him to lose his jockey!
My favorite part of the race is all the drunken idiots who run on the track for the winning contrada who end up getting run over by the rest of the field.
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