Dave Lister wrote:
Can someone enlighten me on the rules abroad? I can see 2 scenarios:
a) the laws are the same so our jockeys need to get a grip
b) the laws are different so our jockeys will just clear off to America/Australia/Japan/Hong Kong/Dubai etc.
Im not entirely sure 100%
to be honest !!
The way I saw it abroad, well lets say in America, is that they are very reliant on the use of the whip from a very early stage in the race. Over there its a lot to do with fractions and if a front runner isnt hitting the pace it should be over the first few furlongs the Yanks are more than happy to give them a smack or even more, whereas over here the whip is only ever used early on if a horse isnt travelling and its more of a wake up call to get its mind on the job.
Going back to a previous post about the whip been used as cruelty to animals. I have to disagree, surely if the animal didnt actually like it, then wouldnt it stop and throw the jockey off and then proceed to bite the whip out of their hand or something ? When used correctly, the whip does a valuable job in aiding a jockey, not only aiding it to try and make the horse go faster, but also using it in the correct hand keeps the horse straight and stops it veering accross the track like many of them are prone to do.
Im all for banning jockeys who blatantly misuse it, but I dont ever see Richard Hughes been one guilty of that, if anything, hes probably the main jockey who likes to use hands and heels for as long as possible, only problem is, hes not always on Shergar even though he likes to think he is.
