ban on whips

With the New Jersey Racing Commission (NJRC) last week voting to rescind the whip ban, which had been in place at Monmouth Park since the 2021 season, the Jockeys' Guild Board of Directors has voted to reinstate benefits to its members who choose to ride at Monmouth in 2022. The Guild had not been covering insurance policies for Monmouth riders since July 1. New Jersey was the only state in the country where whipping was banned. The NJRC had adopted Monmouth's request for a "House Rule," allowing riders to utilize...

The Week in Review, by Bill Finley We will need a bigger sample size before being able to fully evaluate how Monmouth's experiment with whip-free racing has fared. But this much is certain: Three days in and after hysterical fomenting from the pro-whip side of the argument, the whip-less races amounted to a big nothingburger. That is to say there were no incidents, no major form reversals, no mass boycotts from the horseplayers, etc. Perhaps this was just round one in what figures to be a long, drawn-out battle that...

Starting at next year's Monmouth Park meet, whipping a Thoroughbred will not be allowed by any New Jersey jockey or exercise rider except for the express purpose of ensuring the immediate safety of the horse or rider. Spanning three new rules covering prohibition, allowable usage for safety, and whip construction, the trio of regulations were voted in 4-0 by the New Jersey Racing Commission (NJRC) at its Sept. 16 meeting, making the state the first in the nation to ban whipping beyond protection in an emergency situation. If a jockey...

by Ramon Dominguez and Ryan Moore We have watched, with increasing concern, as momentum to effectively ban the use of the riding crop has built around the world. The negative perception of the crop is real and it matters. You may think it is overblown, the domain of activists, but those among us who dismiss animal welfare concerns will first find ourselves riding without crops, and then not riding at all. We shoulder some blame in this scenario. As riders we have failed--and fail still--to make a persuasive argument about...

Scott Chaney, recently appointed executive director of the CHRB, talks to Bill Finley about the horse welfare and integrity issues he said will be the focus of the board. Chaney said he foresees a total ban of the whip in California within the next few years.