Zito's thoughts on whips

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

They don't use whips in the 2 furlong two-year old races in California. I'm not sure about other states. If any horses needed whips to stay straight, it would be two year olds because they are often times green. If they don't need the whip to keep them straight in those races, they certainly don't need them in other races.

You guys would be very surprised how many people in the industry would have no problem if they took away the whips. Jerry Bailey said that they don't need them. Zito doesn't like them. I asked one of my trainers about it. He said that he would be happy if they got rid of the whips.

I would be thrilled if they got rid of them. I think that whips are unnecessary and I think that jockeys over-use the whips. They often times use the whip even when they don't need to.

I don't know if you guys saw Big Booster's race the other day. He went from last to first and was cruising home to an easy victory. For some reason, Bejarano decided to hit the horse any way inside the 1/16th pole. There was absolutley no reason for it. The race was over. Anyway, it stung the horse and made him very angry and he propped. It was lucky that it didn't cause an accident.

I agree with you completely about overuse, but I still think they are an often necessary piece of equipment- many disciplines I can think of use them and I know I've had some situations on trails when I should have brought one and didn't. Admittedly, I'm not a race rider, all of whom I'm sure ride far better than I do (and also ride far better horses), so I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has been on racehorses?

But yes, I agree completely, way overused and used when not necessary. And if there really is absolutely no possible circumstance in which jockey safety would be compromised by not having a whip, then yes, I'd be for seeing them gone from racing, too. I just find that hard to believe.