“The Whip” by any other name?

[Gingertipster]

“As others have said already, stop the whip being used except for safety/ correction and public perception becomes less of an issue 🤷‍♀️”

Nice theory Archipenko. But when examining it closer what you’re suggesting is that when it comes to winning…

Wayward horses have an advantage over genuine racehorses.

Connections will try to find something that makes a horse veer slightly off course so it is allowed “correction”.

There will be many borderline cases in valuable races, where whether “safety” was an issue and / or “correction” was needed is simply just an opinion. Creating controversial disqualifications and non-disqualifications for racing people… And -as far as the public is concerned – far more “whip abuse” cases than we have now.

Your rule would lead to many top races being decided not on ability but because one horse was allowed the whip and the other was not. Would that really be fair?

Also:

Apprentice races that now have a similar rule to what you suggest may seem successful, but they attract a type of horse that is suited by such a rule. Those unsuited have plenty of alternative races to participate in. Having this rule covering all of Racing would mean horses unsuited to it have no option. These apprentice races aren’t worth much either, so very little incentive to bend the rules. Valuable races would be another thing entirely.

Is idling a safety issue? A horse can pull itself up, slowing up at such a fast rate that those behind are in danger of clipping heels. If idling is a “safety” issue then expect connections to teach horses to idle.

But the main problem would be how the public perceive this rule and imo they’ll come to just one logical conclusion:
Racing knows the whip is abuse and that is why Racing authorities have banned it on all well behaved horses. Yet that abuse is still allowed on horses that are not behaving… Therefore a sport that relies on “abuse” should be banned.

Value Is Everything

[IanDavies]

Retaining “The Whip” has almost 37% of the popular vote, adopting the already-established euphemism “The Persusder” has 23% – to me, this is 60% of the vote for the status quo or a passable tribute act to it.

That leaves 40% wanting a completely new name, hitherto unconsidered, and, of the eight generating support, “The Cush” with 13% is the most popular.

We all have our own interpretations, but I’m not detecting an overwhelming appetite among the TRF Massive for meaningful change.

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[Marlingford]

Agree with your overall interpretation Ian, but I’m not sure I’d agree “persuader” is a vote in favour of the status quo. I know the term gets used already, but if it were adopted as the preferred formal term this would be a huge change. Persuader also seems closer in spirit to a lot of the alternative suggestions.

It’s been a very interesting poll. I was keen to change the term from “whip” at the outset, but am not fully behind any of the alternatives at present. While I’ve often thought that the market research exercises that racing has undertaken in the past have been a waste of time, this might actually be a topic where some wider research would be worth pursuing.

[Archipenko]

@Gingertipster

Together with other European horseracing jurisdictions, the BHA has been gradually restricting usage of the whip. This is something I agree with, not only because I object to hitting a tired horse, but for the wider long term preservation of the sport.

I have nothing more to say on the matter.

@IanDavies it’s been an interesting exercise to see what other horseracing fans think.

[IanDavies]

Thank you, Archipenko – and many thanks to everyone who voted and/or posted to express an opinion.

I doubt there will be many more votes now, but it serves no useful purpose to close the poll so I will leave it open indefinitely to see if there any any late additions.

It’s an issue that isn’t going away anytime soon, so there might be more periodic ongoing comment on the thread too.

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[Gingertipster]

Good poll Ian.

A poll on a Racing Forum with established racing fans voting.
The fact less than 37% want to keep the name “whip” is imo telling.

The Persuader heads the list of challengers. No Ian, the “Persuader” was not a vote for the “status quo”.

May not be much consensus in what we want the name to be changed to, however the two most popular (Persuader and Cush) together add up to the same 11 votes as the “whip”. With 8 for other names.

Value Is Everything

[Nathan Hughes]

In 30 years time they will look back on this thread and say this is where the name Wip was formed
yet racing fans at the time didn’t see it in front of them
gamble will then be interview as the genius to give us the Wip

Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026

[Gingertipster]

“but am not fully behind any of the alternatives at present”.

Although better than “whip”, The Persuader still sounds a bit harsh a word / description to me. Would the similarly named “Encourager” sound better? The horse being “encouraged” or “encouragements” to me sounds a bit better than “persuaded” or “persuasions”.

Value Is Everything

[Ghost of Rob V]

The Encourager sounds as though it has a laxative effect…

[Gingertipster]

Laxatives aren’t good for racehorses.
Reminds me of something professional punter Alex Bird once said, Ghost:

Never back a horse who unloads in the parade ring.

…or something like that.

Value Is Everything

[Ghost of Rob V]

But if the horse drops 2 lb of manure just before the race, it gains a length 😆

[Marlingford]

I take your point Ginger, but Encourager possibly feels like it is slipping a bit too far into euphemistic territory to me. I was never overly keen on Persuader either though.

With the perspective of another week, I still feel that “Whip” should be changed, but can’t settle on which alternative I think is best. So perhaps Gamble’s ingenious suggestion of simply dropping a letter and calling it Wip will save a lot of time and effort

[IanDavies]

Glad to see this thread responding to pressure every time it gets a reminder and generating more replies.

You could be right, GT, but I’ve heard the euphemism “The Persuader” so many times over so many years now I struggle to think of it as a meaningful departure from the status quo.

It is admittedly a vote to drop the term “The Whip,” though.

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[LD73]

As there wasn’t an option for ‘The Ultimate Downfall of Horse Racing’ (a bit of a mouthful I know) I had to pick ‘The Whip’ simply because that is what it is.

The very name ‘The Whip’ brings up bad conotations in people’s minds of cruelty, which has been ingrained over many many years and as such trying to rename it something innocuous to soften the perception will not make a jot of difference to those who already have their minds made up.

[LD73]

How about……..the jockey has gone for ‘The Advancer’

[Nathan Hughes]

I’m not sure it is a vote to drop the whip
How a mini series of votes

Whip v Persuader
Whip v The Advancer
Whip v Wip

etc

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[IanDavies]

“How about……..the jockey has gone for ‘The Advancer’”

Is this a request for a (VERY) late supplementary entry?

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