No runners today

No runners in the next couple of days.

Adrian Dunn and Lee Freedman on the New Whip Rules

HALL Of Fame trainer Lee Freedman is mystified about the new whip rule, its purpose, implementation and the thinking of those who imposed it on the industry.

Freedman can see the rule providing unwanted headlines as the prizemoney level escalates for the spring carnival.

He considers the rule untenable and he's not whistling in the wind.

Two weeks after its introduction, all sorts of problems that the Victorian Jockeys' Association and Australian Jockeys' Association made known some time ago, have become obvious.

The voice of those with knowledge of horses and whips and how the two can work in unison has been largely and, sadly, ignored.

So, we have uncertainty as we march into the heart of the spring. Jockeys are second-guessing themselves about how many times they have hit a horse at a pivotal point of a race.

Rising concern can be detected among owners, trainers and punters. Expect that to become more audible.

There is no question that all jockeys are trying to comply with the rules, but what has seemingly been forgotten is that no two horses are the same. Some horses need more persuasion than others. That's racing.

If authorities are worried about image, they'll need a decent spend educating punters, owners and trainers that every horse can produce its best without one more stroke of the whip than is now deemed allowable.

For all its good intentions, the whip rule has been poorly adopted. Given perception and image ruled the roost with this decision, why didn't authorities, given they were hell-bent on changing the use of whips, introduce just padded whips and not padded whips in conjunction with new rules?

If the padded whips didn't work - don't ask how, given you would have second thoughts using them to swat a pesky bug - then roll out the restrictions about how many times they can be used before and after the 200m.

If that commonsense approach had been adopted, we would not have one steward designated to count the number of times a jockey uses the whip in a race.

What has also been established is that the penalties meted out - a combination of fines and suspension - are way out of whack.

Discretion, not a sledgehammer, needs to be practised, especially as jockeys get their heads around the rules and their unwavering desire to win and reward owners and trainers.

It hasn't been the start to the new whip rule that authorities would have liked, but, really, that is no great surprise.

Freedman fears for the governance, leadership and direction of racing. One gets the feeling he would like to take the whip out, and not the padded one.

Other Stories

Results 1 - 10 of 12 documents

Log in for all the latest information on your horse and VIP stable news for owners.

The Freedman brothers took a decision in 2002 to switch from a metropolitan training regime to a unique environment on the Mornington Peninsula - they built the world-class complex known as Markdel

Badger discusses Breeding

Breeding for Market and for Racing by Grant Pritchard-Gordon of Badger's Bloodstock