Espinoza fined for excessive whipping of Stellar Wind
 

during Santa Anita Oaks...

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...n-stellar-wind

Hey.. whatever works right?

So what happened to this so called "Horse friendly" whip that Jocks were supposed to be using? I guess it is supposed to bend more or something???

Correct, if it is actually working and a goal is attainable.

What's the goal? To alienate as many people as possible until there are just 100 people left in the country who like to watch and bet on horse races in which riders beat the s&!t out of their mounts?

--Dunbar

:tro:

If use of a crop makes one squeamish, I have to wonder how you are a racing fan at all. Consider the life of a racehorse and all it endures. Its not exactly a natural life for them.
No one wishes to see a horse treated cruelly at all.
I don't recall seeing anyone remark about victors use of his stick that race til word came out he had been fined.
Perhaps racing should name a maximum number of times a jock can whip? That way they'd know 20 was OK, 21 isnt.
And then if a horse loses by a nostril we will have complaints about the arbitrary number of times a jock can use his crop. We will be told that the new crops are padded, and there's no reason to limit, because they aren't that bad...

The "non regulars" that watched the races with us "regulars" are the ones that notice the whipping and make the comments.. They don't understand that it "doesn't hurt" and that it's necessary to whip them..however many times it takes to get their nose across the wire. They are the ones that won't go out of their way to become interested in learning to read a racing forum or become an avid fan or bet/watch except when they are with "us" and are just along for the ride.

"Thoroughbred racing would be denatured if the whip were ever banned. Horses are not cognisant of the ambitions of a race, but it is part of their eternal appeal that they are mostly complicit with them. The sport depends on this because a horse’s will to win is at least as important to the essence of competition as its natural ability to run.

If the sport isn’t particularly careful, use of the whip may be demonised and its important role forever misapprehended.
This isn’t a problem specific to U.S. racing. In thrall to the ambition of winning, jockeys in many countries and jurisdictions have been guilty of injudicious use of the whip over the years. "



http://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com...txHwA.facebook

The trainer of the horse said he didn't see any mark on the horse. Also, I can't imagine if Espinoza did hurt Stellar Wind at Santa Anita, that he would have ridden her back in the Kentucky Oaks. Do you?

And that will never change. You either have the bug when you are young or are born with the gene and your family allows you to build on it or become a direct part of it . . . but for most of others it's the opposite.

Sometimes it happens when you're older like for me . . . being a casual fan and my wife, born with the gene and the love, pulled me in hook line and sinker . . . exposing the gene I always had. I've found in the many times I've tried you can't really turn them into a fan of any type and can't make them understand the sport (the good or the "bad") really at all.

:tro:

Haskin's thoughts on the matter:

http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse...e-answers.aspx

all well and good, and I understand haskins point...but I have NEVER had a conversation like that with anyone, whether a fan or a 'casual fan'-and I'm quite tired of hearing about the latter, who has zero skin in the game.
yes, horses are bred to run. but there's a reason for a rider, who tells the horse when to go, and when to keep going.
I have no issue with prevailing on a horse who has a legit shot at a win or placing...I have no desire whatsoever to see a horse in the back of the pack to be wailed away on by a jock.
either these guys are professional riders, or they aren't. I'm not about to argue with victor about a thing. that would be like me trying to tell tom brady how to throw a spiral, or lundqvist how to play goalie.

As long as you have a level playing field, the nature of horseracing would not fundamentally change. That level field could be "no whipping" just as well as "8 whips allowed", "whipping the s$!t out of them allowed", or "let every rider have a buzzer". It would still be horseracing, and the fastest horse, under the whip, buzzer, or handride option allowed, would win.

--Dunbar

Exactly Jay.. This is the amazingly bizarre element of the whole situation. Who's going to know better how she came back than Sadler?

Has anybody ever watched Barrel Racing? The crop does not hurt the horse, it's the pop on the skin that makes them react, unless of course you draw blood or create welts, but you have to be really coming down hard to do either of those.

"The safety crops, which can have a maximum weight of eight ounces, cause more of a noise-making effect than anything, according to some jockeys — who add it would take some exceptionally aggressive riding to cause physical harm with those sticks."


Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2015/05/10/3...#storylink=cpy

Kentucky chief state steward Barbara Borden said none of the 12 state veterinarians at the Derby found any welts or marks on American Pharoah in the initial moments following the race, nor in the hour-plus he was observed after.

In an interview with the Herald-Leader on Friday, Borden added that after reviewing the race again in the wake of public scrutiny, the stewards felt Espinoza's use of the crop "fell within our regulations and felt no disciplinary action was warranted.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2015/05/10/3...#storylink=cpy

Good. And now everyone can report this if theyre asked about it...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It's the same article :rolleyes: