Quote:
Originally Posted by snappit
This is not about race riding and blocking and intimidating or bumping. This is about over use of the whip. I know from watching US racing many jockeys are completely whip happy. That used to be the case here until it has been clamped down on. If a jockey has to use the whip more than 7 times in the last bit of the race that is not good riding. If a horse won't go faster after being hit 7 times in a short distance it won't go faster if hit more times. More and more people over here are saying when a rider breaks the whip rules the horse should be disqualified.There are also growing calls over here both inside and outside of racing to ban the whip.
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It's about both. Jockeys need to win at all costs and, more to the point, they need to be appear to be trying to win at all costs. The common belief is that if the riders is not beating the crap out of the horse by hitting him as hard as possible, as often as possible, he is not trying and will not get hired by any trainer who also needs to also win at all costs. To make up for the gentler whip the jockeys are just hitting the horses harder. The best defense against those who would ban racing is that the horses love to run. The need to whip them to run destroys our argument.
The same applies to race ricing. The idea is not just to win by getting the best out of your own horse but by ruining the chances of the other horse. Even if it eans cutting him off and almost causing a pileup like we saw in the Derby. The idea is to win and there is no substitute for victory in this game. If you can't do it with your own horse you have to do it by messing up the chances of the better horse. This is like the chariot racing of the Circus Maximus in ancient Rome where there were no rules. The sport is dangerous enough. We have to protect the horse and riders in the name of fairness and safety.
if you’re looking at trying to beat blue point. That 5 day turnaround is definitely worrisome. 
