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Once it had been discovered that the young Albert Einstein was possibly the son of an apple farmer in Tasmania in the early 1900s, a subsequent film shows how Einstein splits a beer atom (with a chisel) in order to add bubbles to beer, discovers the theory of relativity and travels to Sydney to patent it. Here he invents the electric guitar and surfing, whilst romancing an anachronistic Marie Curie. He invents rock and roll and uses it to save the world from being destroyed due to misuse of a nuclear reactor under the watching eye of a typically inaccurate portrayal of Sydney’s Charles Darwin.
Today, the use of sectional timing to provide evidence of skulduggery and myth is used in yet another way – not that using evidence to convict racing crooks will ever be tried out here – so back to sleep BHA. Of course, the ARB despite not yet actually reading the report, already denounce the use of scientific evidence and fight a rearguard action so that myth and ignorance might continue to prevail for another Century or three.
As reported in Breeding and Racing magazine:
"RSPCA Says Study “Reveals Futility Of Whipping Horses”
Whipping racehorses “is pointless & does not make a difference to the outcome of the race,” according to new research from 2 University Of Sydney veterinarians. The RSPCA-funded study (published by the Public Library Of Science) investigated the impact of whipping on performance in thoroughbred races. Study co-author Professor David Evans said the results “offer no support for the retention of whipping in horse racing” & noted: “We looked at running times in a series of races, how whips were used & whether that whip use influenced the outcome of a race. What we found was that whipping did not affect the probability of whether or not a horse finished a race in the 1st 3 placings. How a horse ran in the 1st part of a race, when it wasn’t being whipped, was the most critical factor in racing success. So horses are being whipped in the final stages of a race, in the face of muscle fatigue, for no benefit.” Co-author & animal behaviour expert Professor Paul McGreevy said he hoped this research “would highlight the fallacy & futility of whipping” & declared: “The reason for whip use has traditionally been the need to be seen to ride the horse out & the suggestion that you can steer a horse with the whip. Many horse riders, and certainly these findings, refute that. Top performance horses have been bred & prepared to give of their best. Add to that excellent horsemanship & you’ve got a winning combination. That’s all you need. We have evidence here that great horsemanship does not involve flogging tired horses.” RSPCA chief scientist Dr Bidda Jones said the results “will help end the debate over whether there is a place for whipping in the future of Australian thoroughbred racing” & added: “This study has found that jockeys use whips just as people would expect – to try to make their slowing horse recover speed in the closing stages of a race in the hope they will get a place. That’s not surprising. What is surprising is the finding that whipping doesn’t make any difference. Jockeys may as well save their energy, keep their hands on the reins & head straight for home. Their horses will be so much better off for it.” Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University Of Sydney Professor Rosanne Taylor said this report “will challenge traditional thinking” & commented: “Science has the ability to challenge our views of what is otherwise considered the norm. This result is a good example of how evidence can inform the way we work with animals to promote their optimal performance & welfare. In this instance, the future wellbeing of Australian racehorses is looking brighter, because we now better understand that horses give their best when they are not whipped, before the 400m mark, positioning themselves for a win or place.”"Aust Racing Board “Doubts Scientific Worth” Of RSPCA Study
However Australian Racing Board chief executive Andrew Harding cautioned: “The approach taken by the researchers was to use race footage, sectional times & placings to carry out a statistical analysis of the effect of whip use on performance. The study was made possible by the cooperation of the racing industry. This cooperation included providing access to footage & technical assistance from the stewards to the researchers. Once we have been provided with a copy of the study, then the Australian Racing Board & its expert advisers will consider its contents.” However Harding emphasised: “We cooperated with the study because we have a good working relationship with the RSPCA & we are committed to doing everything possible to protect the welfare of racehorses. This said, we have never made a secret of the fact that we doubt the scientific worth of applying logistic regression to draw conclusions about the extent of the effect on performance of the use of a padded whip. There are literally myriad variables in every race that will have an effect on the outcome.” Harding also noted: “The ARB believes the extensive reforms it has made to the use of the whip are appropriate & working as they were intended.”"RSPCA Says Study “Reveals Futility Of Whipping Horses”
Whipping racehorses “is pointless & does not make a difference to the outcome of the race,” according to new research from 2 University Of Sydney veterinariansThey obviously didn’t watch the first at Kempton last night.
Usual blanket bollox applied to creatures, of which no two are the same.
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What a joke. Whoever wrote the cut and paste opening post certainly needs to get the chip off their shoulder and read the report themselves before making any weak assumptions. I have.
The "science" is poor to say the least. The numbers involved in the study are sadly inappropriate for rock solid results of a scientific nature. The way the data was was collected and collated leads one down the old path of "lies, lies and damn statistics". If it was a horse race the crowd would be surrounding the enclosure shouting "FIX, FIX, FIX" before the horses had returned to scale.
Not worth the 20K the RSPCA paid for it. Donations from the Australian public could have been put to much better uses than funding poorly founded studies in the USA. Couldn’t they find an Australian scientist stupid enough to write and publish their BS?
"Once we have been provided with a copy of the study, then the Australian Racing Board & its expert advisers will consider its contents."
Indeed, get into print first and look at the study at leisure.
I suppose the guy is establishing some credibility by using the term ‘logistic regression’, but the credibility extends only as far as showing ability to seek out impressive terminology.
The credibility needed is in the area of ‘reasonableness’ firstly; hopping along to get his opinion out works against that … in my book.
I’m not convinced that the study is definitive and there’s a good reason for that: I haven’t read it!
Incidentally, I wonder what the providers of the study would make of the McCoy drive.
What was used as the control group in the study?
This isn’t an experimental design, it’s a logistic regression on old data. The control group would therefore be self-selecting during the race (presumably those jockeys that didn’t think their mounts needed the whip) rather than chosen at random in advance.
You can draw all sorts of erroneous conclusions with this methodology if you don’t control for as much as you can. For example, these sort of studies are often used to support the notion that weight doesn’t matter at all when the researcher hasn’t controlled properly for the fact that higher weights have better form and/or are improving.
I would have thought it would be very difficult to tease out the effects of the whip this way due to multicollinearity issues.
Having said that I don’t see the need for the whip. Hands and heels races have pretty much passed without incident and they’ve been running for years now.
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Having said that I don’t see the need for the whip. Hands and heels races have pretty much passed without incident and they’ve been running for years now.
But has the best horse always won? Sometimes it isn’t all about what people see for themselves. Just ask a jockey like Mick Kinane what he thinks. Some horses definitely pull themselves up without any serious encouragement. It’s not that the whip makes them go any faster – the whip helps some concentrate or produce their best and not slow down as rapidly as they might otherwise. It also helps keep a horse running in a straight line which is important for race outcome and safety.
You’ll often hear jockeys in post race interviews say the horse "picked up well, kept finding, fought hard, responded etc". These comments relate to a physical response the jockey has felt from the horse under hard riding. It would be most difficult for any study to prove or disprove how much the whip does or doesn’t help a horse in a finish. Even more so when it comes to how much/fast a horse will/wont slow down.
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