I am absolutely not a whip abolitionist but I was very surprised that there has been no comment (apart from Trading Post describing it as "power-packed") about the ride Jimmy Fortune gave the winner of the two-year-old event at Ascot on Wednesday. On a horse having only his second run, Fortune initially hit him once right-handed then switched his whip and proceeded to administer six pretty brutal blows with his left hand, his whip arm raised every time well above shoulder height. Fortune is a pretty regular offender in this respect. What has happened to the "rule" that jockeys aren’t to raise their whip hand above shoulder height?
I don’t think this sort of experience does young horses any good in the longer term.