THE WHIP:

NZ Truth, Issue 93, 30 March 1907, Page 2

THE WHIP:

Its Use and Abuse To-day.

' Says an American exchange .!— The Spectacle of a jockey whipping a .Vgteen"\2-year^old for fully a furlong down the home-stretch is often seen v <Jiese days, and that the .2-year--olds whipped out to this, manner \^ill. be^ ruined for racing purposes .is'-aHi to, .8. shot. Every . time, from this out; the lashed babies reach the homestretch they will be in' such dread of the whip that they will ""go to pieces" or turn "sulker." The best racehorses the world has ever known never knew the touch of whip or spur. It is a fact that not one rider m ten knows when or hoy to use a whip to advantage ;• and it is also true that the too frequent, silly and cruel use of the bat ruins the disposition of many hundreds of racers overv season. Riders armed with a Whip do not seem to realise that the use of this weapon of torture away down the home-stretch has a tendency to lessen a horse's speed and make the game animal lose races that ,11/ would Win eight out of ten times if there Was no Whip, and the boy sat dawnswid '^hand-rode" it instead. The Jockey Club would be doing a deal of good if it passed a law preventing the carrying of whips, by riders m 2-year-old raoea, and we would see much better actors at the post if this rule was enforced. The only tjme a whip is of any account, m making a horse win is the use of it when a race is. say, , not over 60 yards from the finish. A cut of two with it then will- surprised the anitntil, so t&at it will generally make a

cyclonic rush, and just win ;" but if used away down the home-stretch most horses will "fight the whip," shorten their strides and be disgracefully beaten where they might otherwise have won. To see a rider go to the whip as soon as he reaches the home-stretch is. a sure sign he -knows nothing as to the best means to make a racehorse try its level best to win. Who ever saw Tod Sloan, Danny Maher, Redfern, Hildebratid, Lyne, O'Neil or any other great pigskin artist la-mibastine: a horse all the way down the home-stretch ? No, hard-riding and kind treatment will carry the day m race riding where "the bat" gives the- reverse result, because such a small percentage of riders know when or how to use a whip to advantage.