Taking the sting out of winning

by Brandon Enyeart

It seems like you can’t get away from the battle between those who want to make progress in the sport of horse racing and those who are still living in the past these days. Several issues have caused great conflict, such as changing to synthetic track surfaces, the amount of rest time a horse should have between races, the use of blood thinners before a race, and the list goes on.

The latest in a long line of arguments is the nicer, gentler whip. Now required at Del Mar Raceway, Delaware Park and Philadelphia Park, the "soft whip" is slowly making headway in the sport of kings, but Northwest tracks have yet to adopt the requirement. Designed with more contact area, along with some extra padding, this relatively new addition to the sport has met with mixed reactions from the jockey world. The Jockey Guild has embraced the new technology, saying that trainers and jockeys should get used to it, because it is only a short time before use of the soft whip becomes a nationwide rule. The Jockey Club--among other organizations--is actually pushing for the soft whip to become mandatory.

Then there is the opposition.

Many jockeys and trainers don’t believe conventional whips actually hurt a horse to begin with; others say they are afraid that the soft whip won’t get the attention of a cranky horse.

The soft whip is designed to make more noise than a conventional whip. When the horse hears the whip, it should react to the noise the same way it would to the sting of a conventional whip. Different horses have different levels of sensitivity; some are affected greatly by the sting of a whip, and others may not feel it much at all. Some users believe the soft whip will prove more useful than conventional whips overall, since most horses will react to it in a similar manner.

With many jockeys following in the footsteps steps of Pat Day and using the whip less frequently already, the issue may be moot. However, with the racing industry as divided as it has been lately between tradition and progression, the results of such debates as soft vs. conventional whips serve as key indicators of whether the industry as a whole will stagnate and falter or progress and thrive.