A BRILLIANT Royal Ascot had seemed all wrapped up and discussed when another ‘whip’ debate appeared in the media this week.

This time an article written by trainer Charlie Fellowes, who trained an Ascot winner on whom the jockey was fined and banned for whip use.

It’s a shame he decided to use the emotive language that many outside racing are more prone to rely on. “The sight of a jockey repeatedly flogging [definition: a punishment in which someone is beaten severely with a whip or a stick] a horse without giving the animal time to respond does not look good”, when it is a very rare occurrence. The two Soumillon incidents mentioned admittedly do not look good, but they took place in different jurisdictions and would not have been acceptable here or in the UK.

‘Disqualify offenders and there’ll be no further infringements’ is the argument. But there remains a distinct possibility that a winner would be thrown out for a rider going a strike or two over the limit.

Richard Johnson admitted later on the 2018 Gold Cup that he did not think he had gone over the limit in winning – but imagine if he had been disqualified? And the feelings afterwards? No winners’ photos? Would Might Bite really have been a deserving winner? What if Bryony Frost had gone one or two over in the thrill of winning this year and been thrown out? That great winning interview and national newpapers photos would have been binned. No celebratory return to the winners’ enclosure. Racing needs its front page stories.

Fellowes says every jockey can count but there could easily be a scenario in which a rider involved in a close finish does actually forget how many strikes he has used.

Look back at the finish of the Stayers’ Hurdle from Aintree. If The Cap Fits beat Roksana by a head with Apple’s Jade a neck further back, and all racing in very tight company, hanging into each other. It would be easy to forget how many strikes had been used.

Would a rider have to put the whip down in the final strides for fear of disqualification, if that was the possibility, risking wrath of owners, trainers and punters?

Fellowes also mentions the training methods used on young horses, but many elements of simply ‘breaking’ a horse might not look too good to the uninformed, if they saw the light of day.

The use of the whip in racing, in its current form, is only an issue if some racing people keep making it so.