29 November 2011 Whip Restrictions - A Statement From the PPA Board
by the Point-to-Point Authority Board
In with the new season came the new Whip Rules as published on this website on 1st November titled "Whip Restrictions in Point-to-Pointing." This has been an emotive subject involving much discussion from both corners, firstly those who act as Stewards and secondly the participants, and in particular the Riders.
The main change is the finite figure of a maximum of eight hits being allowed throughout the length of the race and the new definition of a hit being "any hit when the rider's whip hand is off the reins". Now, once a rider is in breach, Stewards do not have a discretion to caution but, must impose at least the minimum financial penalty. These have been increased from old levels that had been in place for many years.
Should any rider offend for a second time during that same season, the minimum penalties will be doubled, and for a third time that season, trebled.
At both Black Forest Lodge and Cottenham on Sunday, board members of the PPA went to monitor the implementation of the new rules and the riders' reactions to them.
On each course, the Chairmen and members of their panels of stewards met with riders prior to racing to remind them of the new rules and advised them that the stewards are required to enforce the new rules and members of the panel would be deployed around the course so that all parts of it were clearly visible. Further to this, a steward was nominated for each race to remind riders of the new conditions under which they were riding as they left the changing rooms on their way to the paddock.
All riders at both courses are to be congratulated for both adapting to the new rules and for riding sensibly. They pushed horses out with hands and heels rather than the old habit of immediately resorting to the use of the whip and several people commented how much better it looked.
As a result, no whip enquiries had to be called and therefore no penalties for inappropriate use of the whip were incurred. In fact the highest number of hits on any one horse observed across the two meetings was five. This is a good start to the season in this respect and all riders are strongly advised to follow the excellent lead shown last weekend as the season progresses.
