Form and the new whip rules

[Trotter]

The new whip rules come in today (Monday) Disregarding the pros and cons of the change I'm wondered on the effect on 'form' Obviously the last few months or years, depending on how far you look at a horse's past record have been under the old system. So the question arises as to wether you now treat all form prior to today as suspect as a guide to future races ? For example.........I'm looking at Rough Rock at Yarmouth. He's won several times over this CD, he's fairly handicapped, drops in class and the yard is in decent nick But how do i know wether or not he needs a good whipping to get up on the line ? Similarly you're looking at a horse who's race comments say that he doesn't find much in a finish............I'd normally put a line through that one. But if his rivals can't be whipped as much maybe it won't matter that he doesn't find much, cos they won't either from now on.............and under todays rules he might be very well handicapped compared to the ones that need the whip to win. This will only be temporary as after a few months the form under the new system will be the current form and you work on the basis of that Are you going to be a bit more judicious in putting your cash down for the next few months until we have a decent amount of form under the new system ?

[BillyHills]

Re: Form and the new whip rules Its a good point Trotter, I for one will be looking at the form (replays) very closely in jump racing in particular. The video form is a must i would have thought when looking out for possible animals that need a few reminders early on in their races to wake them up. I have already mentioned one old dog in the other thread, that needs attention all the time and to be fair does find for pressure but you cant back with these new rules. Maybe more horses will be wearing the head gear now, have you ever watched a South African race on ATR, the majority wear blinkers or visors, that will be us soon I fear although in general I do agree with the ruling. I think a few owners will be looking to offload at the upcoming sales.