France Galop have made our own National Horseracing Authority’s crop sanctions look quite tame with the introduction of a stricter policy from 1 September 2023. Runners will now be disqualified when their jockeys use the crop nine times or more.
This means the horse will be immediately excluded from the finishing order and the decision will be announced before bets on the race concerned are paid out.
So the punter and connections are also punished!
This new rule is part of the amendments to the rules of racing that were adopted by the France Galop Committee on 12 June 2023 and subsequently approved by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The aim of this rule is to further strengthen deterrence against whip abuse, with the allowed number of whip strokes having been reduced to 4 on 1 May 2023.
In this context, racing stewards will impose more severe suspensions if a horse was to be disqualified after the jockey used the whip 9 times or more.