whip penalty

In what could be the first dual penalization of its kind, the stewards at Mountaineer Park have fined jockey Jose A. Leon for going over the six-strike whipping limit and also for "failure to give best effort" in the same 4 1/2-furlong sprint. Both alleged infractions occurred in an extremely narrow time frame during the stretch run of the second race on May 14. Leon, a 25-year-old who has been licensed since 2018, was aboard the 0-for-9 maiden Keto Friendly (Mastery), an 8-1 filly racing against males, who vied for...

The penalty structure for the new slate of restrictive whipping regulations passed by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) back on June 16 appears to be on its way to an overhaul after the KHRC Rules Committee unanimously voted Sept. 29 to present a "days instead of dollars" system to the full board for reconsideration. In essence, a series of escalating disciplinary actions will replace the suspension-plus-fine system that was originally based on a percentage of the purse being taken away from  riders who violate the "six underhanded strikes per...