WHIP/ACCELERATOR PEDAL, I WAS WRONG & DR. STEPHEN ANGEL.

Brierley Turk - the third Arabian stallion imported into this country alongside the Godolphin and Darley. Memory failure from the other day. Came to me while watching York yesterday. 

I am not a jockey or never was a jockey or ever likely will be, in this world or the next. Yet I remain wedded for life to my opinion that a whip does not make a horse go faster or give more effort than nature will allow it to. I am not an advocate of banning jockeys from carrying whips as in desperate situations a whip could save the life of both the rider and horse and causing damage or injury to others. But when people have suffered censure, fines and suspensions for trying to make a horse start a race against its will, when assistant starters are no longer permitted to use a long tom behind a horse holding up the start of a race by refusing to go forward, even though the whip does not touch the horse, it seems highly ridiculous to me that anyone can believe that by repeatedly hitting a horse in the final stages of a race that a) it will somehow find the energy to increase its speed and b) that the jockey is not forcing through intimidation to do something it either cannot or is willing to do. In the final hundred-yards of the Ebor yesterday did anyone witness Hopewell Rock going slower than the horses either side of him, the jockeys on both having the use of the whip, while Hopewell Rock's jockey did not? This ingrained belief that a whip will make a horse go faster is the thinking of a barbarian.

The whip is not an accelerator pedal; it is not a Go Faster button. When a horse is giving its all, it has no more left to give and using the whip once, twice or three-times in the final strides will not make an inch of difference. Yes, if jockeys were only allowed, as I propose, only one strike of the whip, results would be different than when allowed six-strikes. But the new norm would be the new normal and twenty-years down the line people will be wondering how we ever allowed jockeys so much freedom to 'abuse' a willing animal.

I was wrong. Not for the first or last time time, but in the case of the City of York Stakes the upgrading to Group 1 has proved a triumph for everyone who championed its elevation. I was of the opinion that throwing money at the race to make it acceptable to the Pattern Committee to be upgraded would only result in the same sort and number of horses taking part. I was wrong, as were the connections of Ten Bob Tony for going down in distance rather than up.

I have no idea who Dr. Stephen Angel is or what his qualifications are to bear the title of a doctor. I suspect he may not be a 'real' doctor, the sort who can legitimately put his hands on living bodies, but a 'bookish' kind of doctor. One thing I do know is that if we met we would not see eye to eye on any trivial or important matter. I also suspect he may be a socialist, perhaps even a champagne socialist. Anyway, in today's Racing Post he has a letter published where his views on geldings are the complete opposite to mine, thus getting him on to my private list of enemies I never wish to meet. It is an exclusive club, not that Dr. Angel should pride himself for his inclusion. Geldings, according to Dr. Angel, are known for having an advantage over colts and fillies and should be penalised when they meet in conditions races. This view is snobbish and unproven. If left to Dr. Angel, he would not allow geldings anywhere near a Group 1. He must go into a slough of despair when Calandagan and Goliath beat the colts in Group 1's. If, say, Constitution Hill were to line-up in a Group 1, would he be moved to impersonate the suffregette Emily Davison and run onto the course in an effort to stop the horse from causing him, and the owners of the beaten potential stallions, greater anguish? Ludicrous of me, of course; a puerile attempt to mock an opinion the opposite of mine own! Fancy me believing the best should always take on the best, whether colt, filly or gelding. And there was me thinking the sport was titled HORSE RACING, whereas as those in Dr. Angel's camp think the sport should be all about the stallion sheds and stallion owners making bigger and bigger bucks!