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California’s More Restrictive Whip Rules Go Into Effect On Oct. 1

A more restrictive rule governing use of the riding crop will go into effect Oct. 1 for all Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, and mixed-breed races and also during training in California. The amended rule is designed to further protect horses without compromising the safety of horses and riders.

The key revisions to California Horse Racing Board Rule 1688 include:

Riders cannot use the crop more than six times during a race, excluding showing or waiving the crop or tapping the horse on the shoulder.
Riders cannot use the crop more than two times in succession (within the six-time limit) without giving the horse a chance to respond before using the crop again.
The crop must be used in an underhanded position with the crop always at or below the shoulder level of the jockey.
During training the crop can only be used for the safety of horse or rider.
Absent mitigating circumstances, which includes but is not limited to use of the riding crop for the safety of horse and rider, if a jockey or exercise rider rides in a manner contrary to this rule, the stewards shall impose a maximum fine of $1,000 and a minimum suspension of three days. In trial heats, the suspension shall include the subsequent related stakes race.
The jockey or exercise rider shall not be penalized if, in the opinion of the stewards, the use of the crop was necessary for the safety of the horse or rider.

In order to ease the transition, stewards will be meeting with the jockey colonies at the respective tracks to explain the rule and to answer questions. In addition, the CHRB is recommending to the Boards of Stewards that they should for a reasonable period of time use the “mitigating circumstances” language to employ the current penalty structure – lighter penalties — in order to make the transition to the amended rule less disruptive to jockeys, in particular, as well as all stakeholders and the wagering public generally.

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Maryland Apprentice Marquez Heading To New York, To Team Up With Cordero

Teenaged jockey Charlie Marquez, the top apprentice and third-leading rider at Laurel Park's summer meet, is moving his tack from Maryland to New York under the tutelage of Hall of Fame rider Angel Cordero Jr.

Marquez, 17, who rides with a five-pound weight allowance, entered Saturday ranked third in wins (33) and starts (231) and fifth in purses earned ($944,681) at Laurel's extended summer meet. He had four mounts on Saturday's closing day program.

“There's nothing like Laurel. I love all the people. The environment's great, the horses are great. I just wanted to try something new in my career,” Marquez said. “I always wanted to go to New York. It's just another chapter of my life, so I want to see where that goes.”

Represented by agent Kevin Witte in Maryland, Marquez also finished third at Laurel's truncated winter meet with 24 wins and 132 mounts, and was fifth with $513,254 in purse earnings. He registered hat tricks March 8 and 15, the latter the final card before live racing was paused for 2 1/2 months in Maryland amid the coronavirus pandemic, returning May 30.

“I'm excited. I hope to do good. I have a very good agent up there,” Marquez said of his move. “Angel Cordero Jr.'s going to take my book. He's a great mentor, a good agent and has a lot of connections, so hopefully we can be a good team and work together to get some wins.”

After riding in seven amateur races in 2019, three at Laurel and four at Parx, with two seconds and two thirds, Marquez made his professional debut at age 16 running fourth on Up Hill Battle Jan. 1 at Laurel. The Columbia, Md., native got his first winner in his eighth career mount Jan. 9, also at Laurel, with Sierra Leona.

The son of Carlos Marquez Jr., a multiple graded-stakes winner of more than 3,150 career races currently riding in Puerto Rico, Marquez is also the grandson of Carlos Marquez Sr., another successful rider who taught at Puerto Rico's famed Escuela Vocacional Hipica jockey school.

Marquez registered seven two-win days during Laurel's summer meet. He joins forces with the 77-year-old with Cordero, a winner of 7,057 career races who previously represented Hall of Famer John Velazquez and currently handles the book of Manny Franco, regular rider of Florida Derby (G1), Belmont (G1) and Travers (G1) winner Tiz the Law.

“I can't really explain it. It's just an honor. I couldn't be more grateful. But I can't forget about all the people here that helped move me along and made me the rider that I am now where I think I can compete up in New York,” Marquez said. “I don't think there's anyone like Angel Cordero. He's a Hall of Fame rider and they call him the King of Saratoga. It's an opportunity I just had to take, and I'm very excited and looking forward to teaming up with him.”

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Australian Jockey Gets Suspended For Going Too Fast (Yes, You Read That Right)

Winx's jockey Hugh Bowman has been handed a 20-day suspension – on his first day back riding in Sydney after a six-week ban for a notorious careless riding incident in July.

Bowman's latest alleged misdemeanor came on Saturday when he was found to have gone too fast on beaten favorite Farnan, the Golden Slipper winner, in the G2 Run To The Rose at Rosehill.

The 40-year-old jockey, who pleaded not guilty, was charged under the rule stating that “a rider must take all reasonable and permissible measures throughout the race to ensure that the rider's horse is given full opportunity to win or to obtain the best possible place in the field”. He received the 20-day ban after a two-hour meeting by Racing NSW stewards on Thursday.

Bowman, who has never before been sanctioned over a 'handling' charge, vowed to clear his name. He immediately lodged an appeal against the decision, which is set to rule him out for nearly three weeks and means he will miss four G1 events – including three on the lucrative Epsom Handicap card at Randwick on Oct. 3.

Saturday's card at Rosehill marked Bowman's return to the saddle for the first time since he was banned in July for his role in the horrific fall that left fellow jockey Andrew Adkins in hospital with serious injuries including a collapsed lung and seven broken ribs.

He was called into the stewards' room for his efforts on 7-5 favorite Farnan in the Run To The Rose, the main trial for the AUS$ 1million Golden Rose on Sept. 26.

Bowman was adjudged to have gone too fast in front and not made sufficient effort to restrain the 3-year-old – trained by the Gai Waterhouse/Adrian Bott partnership – before folding in the closing stages to be beaten nearly four lengths into fifth behind Rothfire in the six-furlong contest.

After connections were interviewed at the track, the inquiry was adjourned while betting and sectional times were reviewed. There were no abnormal betting patterns but sectionals revealed that Farnan had travelled 12.8 lengths faster than average in the first 800 meters.

According to Racenet, chief steward Marc Van Gestel labelled the ride “as aggressive as I've seen you on a horse out of the gates” on raceday.

Bowman, whose appeal will be heard next week, strongly disagreed with the stewards' findings, saying he had ridden aggressively to try to control the race.

He will be able to ride at Randwick on Saturday and at the Golden Rose meeting seven days later before beginning his penalty on September 27.

“What can't be determined despite all the mathematical genius is how the horse is traveling underneath me,” Bowman said. “He probably wouldn't have beaten Rothfire in all seriousness but had he come back a length and relaxed for me, it wouldn't have looked so bad.

“I am doing my best to steady him and relax him and slow him back,” he added. “If I start to fight him to slow him down it's not going to help him finish the race off.”

This story has been reprinted with permission from Horse Racing Planet. Read the original here.

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New Jersey Commission Adopts Stricter Whip Rules: Prevents Use ‘Except For Reasons Of Safety’

On Wednesday, the New Jersey Racing Commission issued a strict new rule governing jockeys' use of the riding whip, according to the Daily Racing Form. Beginning in 2021, jockeys at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, NJ will not be allowed to use the whip “except for reasons of safety.”

The commission adopted the new rule unanimously, despite objections by The Jockeys' Guild. It is the strictest rule in the United States.

“The prohibition of the use of riding crops, except when necessary for the safety of horse or rider, will be perceived in a positive light by the general public,” said a statement from the NJRC. “The proposed repeal and new rules are of the utmost importance in adapting the industry to avoid the currently negative public perception of whipping a horse.”

Stewards will be in charge of determining whether jockeys used the whip to maintain control of the horse, and will be able to fine or suspend jockeys if they determine a jockey used the whip “to achieve a better placing.”

The rule continues: “If the riding crop is used, under the supervision of the stewards, there shall be a visual inspection of each horse following each race for evidence of excessive or brutal use of the riding crop.”

Specifications for the whip itself include that it must be “soft-padded [and] have a shaft and a soft tube,” that it does not exceed eight ounces in weight or 30 inches in length, and has a minimum shaft diameter of three-eighths of one inch. Additionally, “the shaft, beyond the grip, must be smooth, with no protrusions or raised surface, and covered by shock absorbing material that gives a compression factor of at least one millimeter throughout its circumference.”

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