Dominatrixes give jockeys a whippingPVC-clad dominatrixes surprised race-goers at Newmarket on Friday October 15 by challenging racing officials, involved in a special Jockey Club event, to offer their own rumps for a whipping to see how they like it! Animal Aid chose the race, known as the 'Newmarket Challenge Whip', to dramatise its demand for a total whipping ban, because all the horses taking part in the annual event are owned by Jockey Club members, and the Jockey Club has it in its power to outlaw the barbaric practice. |
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While the racing officials declined the offer, one brave punter who was whipped admitted that it was painful and that it was right to call for a ban. Animal Aid published a landmark report this April, called A Hiding to Nothing, that employed a wealth of statistics to demonstrate that, not only is whipping cruel, but it also causes horses to perform less well. The Jockey Club's response was to acknowledge that 'more races are lost rather than won through use of the whip'. Says André Menache MRCVS, Scientific Consultant to Animal Aid: "The use of the whip is of major animal welfare concern. In addition to being an instrument of pain, it also distracts the horses' attention, sometimes with tragic consequences, as documented by Animal Aid's video footage." |
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An evocative account of the impact of the whip on young horses was published in the industry's own leading newspaper, the Racing Post. Wrote Jasmine Chesters: "When she came out for her first race this year, the only words I can use are that she was thrashed. Not by other horses, but by her jockey. She was hit at least 12 times inside the last furlong and a half and finished third. "Her rider was suspended for two days but the harm he did to my horse was incalculable. She has never run the same since. She breaks well but on reaching about the four-furlong pole, when she is nearly always in the first four or five, as soon as she is smacked to push her on, she drops herself out. "Her emotions must be in turmoil. She must be expecting to be thrashed again. We have nursed her all season but to no avail. Now I have to make the decision as to what to do with her." |
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For more information on Animal Aid's horse racing campaign 
