By T. D. Thornton
A harness driver in New Jersey–where whipping a horse to make it run faster is prohibited in Thoroughbred racing but permitted with restrictions in Standardbred races–has been fined $5,000 and suspended 20 days for whipping his pacer so indiscriminately during a race last month that the judges deemed his actions caused a three-horse spill that injured one rival horse so severely it had to be euthanized.
According to a ruling posted on the New Jersey Racing Commission (NJRC) website, driver Joe Bongiorno was in the bike behind Pat Stanley N in the seventh race on May 29 at the Meadowlands when he “failed to keep the lines reasonably taut during the race [and] displayed exaggerated movement with the whip, using more than wrist action and raising his whipping arm to a level above shoulder height.
“Mr. Bongiorno continued to use the whip to urge his horse after the horse was no longer responding,” the ruling continued. “The culmination of these actions, each of which is a violation of [New Jersey's whipping rules] placed Mr. Bongiorno in a position of being unable to respond when [his] horse stumbled and fell, unseating Mr. Bongiorno as well as two other drivers.”
According to a post-accident Twitter posting by the track, one of the horses affected by Bongiorno's actions had to be euthanized. The two others suffered scrapes, but walked back to the paddock. US Trotting News reported Bongiorno himself was evaluated at a local hospital but reportedly had no fractures.
When crafting the state's new whip rules last year, the NJRC explained in a statement why there would be distinctions between breeds:
“Jockeys who ride horses have more methods to encourage and control horses than do drivers, as the jockey is in close proximity to the horse and a jockey's hands and feet are in contact with the horses. Drivers, who have no contact with the horse, have no method to encourage a horse other than with the use of the whip. As a result, the Commission does not believe it can eliminate the use of the whip entirely as the Commission is proposing for Thoroughbred racing.”
The commission did, however, prohibit shoulder and elbow action in Standardbred races.
It was not immediately clear if Bongiorno is appealing the ruling.
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