I wonder if they’ll be able to show each strike.
I’m dragging this back to life because in watching an old race (2009 Haskell) the whip use looks extreme.
Now I can see the Borel isn’t hitting RA with every whip movement but, the horse behind looks like he’s getting whacked hard each time. It’s at 14:30 and I think the horse is Duke of Mischief. I understand from racing folks that the whips don’t actually hurt (
) but the gesture of the strike puts me off.
Are these ‘hits’ legal? It just seems excessive. In another of RA’s 2009 races a horse received a lot of hits too. Has the number of strikes changed in recent years from 2009?
1 Like
2009 is a world away from the present rules and regs about whip use!
2 Likes
That is so good to hear! I enjoy re-watching old races but there are a few I won’t ever watch again because of the horses being whipped so heavily.
The almost 20 year old race whip overuse is probably the least disturbing thing that racing has been gradually ridding itself of. It is just the most visible. Todays whips are more like pool noodles compared to what was used in the past. The good old days were anything but and some are still making…questionable…decisions behind the scenes.
2 Likes
@Aussie_2020 I don’t really follow US racing. I was curious because Munnings, running in Coolmore colours, was a familiar name. He had one lot in the recent Tatterstalls breeze up sales. I looked him up. A good stallion with plenty of winning offspring, still standing with Coolmore America. Rachel Alexandra, by contrast, produced only two foals before being retired from breeding after requiring surgery following her second.
I recall Munnings because I love Alfred Munnings, the artist.
I thought Munnings was adorable. With his coloring he always looked like a pony to me. After RA’s Preakness win a lot of racing fans followed her. She had major wins and was Horse of the Year. I think she was on the cover of Vogue too.
There are several high, high profile TB’s that didn’t have much breeding success. As a fan and not a breeder I’m good with that. 
Cigar is still my boy!
Not many horses can say that!
1 Like
We were so lucky in the late 00s. We had some of the best race horses in 30+ years all racing at once.
But yeah, what everyone else said: 2009 may not seem that long ago but whip rules were not even a serious conversation back then.
4 Likes
Was at Saratoga for Rachel’s final race. As the crowd deflated after she lost, the rail cleared out immediately, but I stayed there to watch her walk back out. Could have reached out and touched her from where I was standing and couldn’t believe there was no one else around me to see her quietly head to the backside. (Wish cellphone cameras were better back then!)
While she only had two foals, at least she went on to a nice life on the farm. And her daughter did well.
4 Likes
If she had stayed with the owner and trainer she had for the first part of her career I think she could have been very successful for several more years, but the Woodward about killed her and in (my lowly opinion) Fletcher didn’t train as she needed. On the other hand the previous owner might not have taken the chance of the Preakness or Haskell so 
I’d loved to have been that close to her! What a great photo and memory.
Pletcher?
It was Asmussen 
who was handed the golden princess after Stonestreet bought her and IMO tried to keep “fixing” her…
I wish I could have seen her - or Zenyatta - up close… I guess I have to settle for being within touching distance (but I didn’t!) of Flightline when I was at the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland that year. And a personal favorite, Caravel.
Oops! Wrong trainer! I knew that but wrote in ‘the other guy’. I’ll leave my original post since I’ve been corrected.
