New Whip Rule's First Day No Problem in SoCal
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UPDATE: Upon review, Los Alamitos Race Course stewards determined there were violations under California's new whip rule July 2. Read the story about the violations at this link.
The transition to California's new whip rule appeared seamless on the first racing day under the mandate July 2 at Los Alamitos Race Course.
No jockeys riding at Los Alamitos were found to be in violation of the rule, which only allows riders to strike a horse three consecutive times before pausing for it to respond. However, Southern California stewards did say they were made aware of a pair of infractions during the Thursday races at Oak Tree's Pleasanton meeting at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Northern California. The riders were not named.
The reason for the positive result in Southern California might be simple. Racing officials made sure both parties involved—the stewards and the jockeys—were well-prepared. For all of June's racing at Santa Anita, jockeys were informed when they were in violation of the upcoming rule. There were also warnings given during the 2014 meets at Del Mar.
"We've been doing it for the last month," steward Scott Chaney said. "We've been giving them warnings when they would have been in violation, hoping that when we did get started, we'd be in better shape. So far, so good."
"We've been practicing for today for eight months," jockey Kent Desormeaux said. "The particulars, we didn't know, but we knew how to ride."
Desormeaux and other jockeys also said that the limited impact of the whip—which has also been modified in recent years to have a padded tip and shorter length—will make jockeys better at their craft by not relying on the riding implement to get the most out of their mounts.
"My thing, for the public to understand, is that we've already lessened the load dramatically by changing the (whips) to poppers," Desormeaux said of the modified crops that make a snapping sound when they hit the horse. "These big colts, with the new encouragement (rules) we have—it doesn't do much. In my opinion, it makes us better riders, because you're not going to get a bunch from your riding crop. It will make jockeys better, because it's more hands-and-heels riding instead of using the riding crop."
Jockey Drayden Van Dyke, who won Los Alamitos' opening-day feature with Magic Mark in the $110,800 Bertrando Stakes, echoed Desormeaux's sentiment.
"It's honestly going to help riders in general," Van Dyke said. "If you go rapid-fire, like hit a horse four times quick, your horse tends to drift more. The whip rule will make the rider focus more on staying straight. I think it's great."
Chaney also expanded on how the stewards have determined an objective standard, gauging what constitutes enough time for a horse to respond to a series of whip strikes.
"We've come up with a standard that should be at least two strides," Chaney said. "We didn't want to be in the position where there was some subjective criteria, where we're looking for a response, because sometimes you don't see it. Obviously, the jockey is in the best position to know that, so we have an objective criteria where it's at least two strides."