News

Whip rules - mixed reaction to introduction

3rd Aug 2009

Racenet - Brad Waters - Monday, 3 August 2009

Victoria’s chief steward Terry Bailey was full of praise for the way Melbourne jockeys performed on the first day of racing under the new whip rules.

Padded whips and limits on the amount of times jockeys can use the persuader were introduced around Australia on Saturday with penalties for breaches of the rules awaiting any transgressing rider.

“I was very happy with the way it went,” Bailey said. “All of the jockeys were great and we only had to speak to one jockey for his whip use and it was a minor little thing.

Dwayne Dunn made history as the first Melbourne jockey counselled over his whip use under the new rules after catching the stewards’ eye while driving Marchelle Belle to a win in The Yalumba Masters.

“We just had a quick word to Dwayne Dunn over his technique when he rode Marchelle Belle,” Bailey said. “His arm was a bit high in the finish and we just reminded him of his obligations in that regard.”

In Sydney, leading jockey Corey Brown and apprentice Mitchell Beadman were reprimanded under the new rules.

Brown was cautioned twice and he admitted he struggled to adapt to the requirements.

At Caulfield, not everyone was completely happy with the way the first day under the new whip rules panned out with aggressive Victorian jockey Craig Newitt having some concerns.

Newitt started off the new season by being dumped from Flying Tryst in the opening event and said he would take a few meetings to get used to the new rules.

“It’s pretty hard at the moment with having to steer the horse, work through your tactics and count how many times you have hit the horse,” he said.

“I actually reckon the whip rules have had an effect on a couple of results here today. There are definitely a couple of horses which would have won if they had been hit with the old whips.”

Bailey disagreed with Newitt and said the introduction of whip restrictions was “overdue by at least five years”.

“The whips are not as severe and that’s why they were introduced,” Bailey said. “We have fallen into line with the rest of the world. We are probably five or six years too late in bringing padded whips into Australian racing.

“Australia was probably the last major racing country to introduce padded whips and we were five years behind the rest of the major countries in addressing the issue.”