LARRY’S VIEW - WHIP CONTROVERSY WAS A SURE BET

By Larry Cassidy | Friday, October 21, 2011

Larry Cassidy currently has forty-two Group 1 successes behind his name. He is a multiple Premiership winning jockey having taken out three titles in Sydney and one in Brisbane. Larry’s View, the personal blog of this top class rider will appear on horseracingonly.com.au every Friday, workload permitting.

It was not surprising at all to any rider who has gone through it before that the launch of the new whip rule in Britain was an immediate cause of controversy.

I must admit that I did not take in all the details of jockey Christophe Soumillon’s catastrophe when I first looked at the story. Like most I was checking on So You Think’s latest result when I saw that he was beaten by Cirrus Des Aigles in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot and that Soumillon, the rider of the winner, had picked up a penalty for transgressing the new whip rule.

When I realized Soumillon, as part of his punishment, had to forfeit both his riding fee and his entire stake percentage earnings (as well as being given a suspension) I really couldn’t believe it.

That amounted to the biggest penalty in British Racing history and, without knowing the full particulars, my first thought was, geez … how many times must he have hit the horse to get that big a punishment? I thought he must have hit the horse about twenty times.

Imagine then how dumbfounded I was when I learnt that he had only hit the horse one time more than was permitted over the final furlong … and actually one less time than he was allowed to do in the entire race!

I know now that their rule states that a jockey can hit a horse seven times in a race in total, but no more than five times inside the last furlong. Soumillon only hit his mount six times in the entire race, but all six strikes came in the last 200m, hence he had breached the rules.

How that penalty fits the crime is beyond me, particularly as they’ve just brought in the rules. To me it is very over the top!

I know from what happened here in Australia when the new whip rules were brought in that there is most definitely a period of adjustment and the nature of the adjustment and the time taken to master it differs from rider to rider.

We went from basically being able to hit them as often as we wanted, within reason, to being limited, not only with the number of hits but also in the way we could hit them … plus we had to use new whips. So there was plenty for us to have to think about in the middle of trying to win a race. It was very hard.

So I can fully understand and appreciate what Soumillon meant when he defended himself by saying, "I tried to count, but I couldn't. You can't do everything. You can't look for the marker, look for the horses, count the times you use the whip and ride a finish."

The period of adjustment is hard … and definitely harder for a few. I know I unintentionally broke the rule a few times, but it was minor indiscretions under our rules, hitting it one extra time or two times in a row … because here you can’t hit them in consecutive strides.

Mine was never anything major, but where I slipped up was being in the habit of hitting them two-in-a-row outside the 100m mark and that is still sometimes where I’ve got to work hardest at not falling foul of the rule.

You do adjust and create other options for yourself.

Obviously the ideal is not to draw the whip until necessary. I try to do that and keep it back-handed. You can do what you want then … but then again you are racing and you are charged with given your mount every chance of winning the race, so what you do with the whip is a very fine-line decision at times.

I think we’ve more or less got the system right here. Like I said, the penalty looks to be hopelessly over the top in Britain, although I believe that could come under review with the Professional Jockeys’ Association making submissions to the British Racing Authority. The penalties in place in Australia are more logical and are based on the level and regularity of your offence.

If you fall foul of the rule excessive, particularly after you have been allowed a fair period of time to make the adjustment, you should be dealt with in a way that suits.

However, if the infringement is minor … well, again, I think they are dealing with it in the right manner here at home.

The bottom line that people should realize is that a jockey’s prime focus has to be on trying to win a race and to win it in a manner which is safe for everyone. The importance of those two points overrides almost anything else. That is what we are paid to do.

Subtle use of the whip is essential in striving to meet both of those aims. It helps with the control of the horse (the safety factor in keeping it straight, amongst other things) and it helps keep your momentum up (a winning factor).

Now anything that distracts from that, particularly the safety aspect, brings its own danger. You have to understand that, even though a rider is aware of the number of strike rules with the whip and he has it in the back of his mind that he must to adhere to them at all times, the last thing that enters into his head is to watch out for the 100m marker when he is on the outside of a pack of horses in a flying finish … so mistakes will happen on occasions in terms of breaking the whip rules.

I’m not saying there should be any leeway allowed. I’m am saying that there will be ‘innocent’ occasions when you will hit the horse one, maybe two times too many … and so be it. You must just cop that penalty, although I sympathise with any jockey caught out on that, just as I think any jockey who hits a horse ten extra times deserves what he gets, as do serial offenders.

I did say earlier that I think we’ve got it more or less right here in Australia but, in my opinion, there is one change that should be considered.

On a personal level, my only problem with the existing rule is that … you can hit them as many times as you want from the 100m mark. That should be from the 200m mark. That would be my only change.

Other than that, if they moved that stipulation from the 100m to the 200m mark, I would be one hundred percent fine with it … and I think you would find most jockeys would be too.

Perhaps … and only perhaps … with the passing of time the new rules will become second nature to old timers in the saddle as it should be to the new recruits coming into the race riding ranks along the way, who will not have ridden under any other whip rules in their career.

We are not there yet, but at least we are a long way down the road from where Britain is at the moment. It will be interesting to see how things develop over there in the next couple of months.

Till next week,
Larry

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