THE whip debate reared it’s head again on Thursday.
Following the news that the Horse Welfare Board will recommend a consultation on the whip next year to the BHA, Animal Aid were asked for their views on the TalkSport breakfast show.
In defence of the station, they balanced the debate on the Jim White and Natalie Sawyer show later in the morning.
But giving Animal Aid air time in the first place (and they are not the only broadcaster who have done so in the past) to talk about racing and the whip is dangerous and misleading.
They are not a registered charity, the BHA work closely with several registered charities already on horse welfare, and one of their sole aims is for racing to be banned completely.
It’s worth pointing out that the potential consultation does not mean the whip will be banned. And Dean Stansall of Animal Aid made several statements that need to be challenged.
One point he made repeatedly was that “jockeys beat up horses” with the whip, and they only use the whip “to beat an exhausted horse” in a finish.
First things first, this is complete nonsense, and use of such emotive language in a debate such as this is irresponsible.
If you watch racing day in, day out, you will not see a single jockey ‘beating’ a horse.
They are taught how to use the whip correctly from an early age, for both steering and encouragement, to ensure a horse to goes through with it’s finishing effort and runs to the best of it’s ability.
Secondly – and this is a point that the BHA should stress until they’re blue in the face – the modern whip is made of compressed foam and does not hurt horses.
The whole point of the modern whip is to make the ‘cracking’ noise that sparks the flight instinct of the animal and encourages them to run faster.
Horses are instinctively flight animals, and it has been bred into these incredible thoroughbreds for generations to have a heightened reaction to that noise. It is the signal to go.
If you take away the whip, you will end up getting false results in breed-defining races.
The thoroughbred will gradually lose it’s flight response, over time that urgency and willingness to put their best foot forward in a finish will diminish.
And we will end up with an inferior, slower breed. A less attractive sport for those who fund it, a less appealing sport to those who follow it and love it.
Stansall added: “I own two ex-racehorses, they shy away if I show them a whip,” and “use of the whip increases the likelihood of interference and causes danger.”
The first point is purely emotive, to portray the whip as a tool that inflicts pain, which is completely untrue.
Regarding the increased likelihood of interference, jockeys do not want to get hurt and they do not want their horses to get hurt.
If a horse hangs under pressure, a jockey will take corrective action. If not and they break the rules, they get punished.
You do occasionally see a horse hang in a finish, but this is the quirk of that individual horse, this is not purely because of the whip.
If horses were hanging away from the whip in every race, you could argue that this was the case.
And he also said that there are greater than “500 whip infringements, year after year”.
This is in the right ballpark, but he fails to mention that figure is from 90,000+ rides.
The BHA confirmed to Sun Racing: “There were 541 whip offences in 2018, from 93,025 rides so a rate of 0.58%.
“This is down from 1,085 offences in 2010, despite the fact that, in this period, the thresholds for permitted use have also effectively halved so despite the fact that jockeys are allowed to use the whip less times in a race, they are breaching the rules much less frequently.
“We can measure the fact that horses welfare is not compromised by use of the whip. Horses are inspected by vets after every race.
“On average only one horse per year is ever found to be marked on their hides by use of the whip. Thats one a year on average from over 90,000 runners.
“British racings whip rules were recently endorsed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), who stated that they are satisfied that the rules in place are sufficient to restrict and limit the use of the whip in horseracing.”
Animal Aid are anti-racing and their purpose is to spread misinformation about the sport. These guys cannot be taken seriously.
But, it is quite clear the need for education around the whip is greater than ever.
The BHA set up stalls at some race meetings over the summer which allowed racegoers to learn about and handle the whip.
This needs to be stepped up and stalls rolled out at every weekend fixture.
The authorities cannot pander to a perception issue that, in reality, isn’t there. The sport is never going to change the minds of those who are anti-racing, so they shouldn’t try.
We have plenty to be proud of, we should not be afraid to stand up for ourselves.
