Metal in Whip costs jockey 12 months

27 October 2009

On Monday, RWWA stewards returned a guilty verdict on the apprentice jockey Duncan Miller for using a whip over a three month period, which was modified with metal balls sewn into the area which strikes the horse.

Miller was disqualified from racing for 12 months.

Miller used the whip in more than 100 races and trials but insisted he did not know about the metal implants. The 17-year-old who is rated as one of WA’s best apprentice jockeys, was charged under ARR 175 (a) with an improper practice. The particulars being that he carried and used in races  and trials, in the period between 1st August 2009 and 3rd October 2009, a whip which had weighted objects in the padded section of the whip.

He was also charged under ARR 137A(1)(b) for carrying a whip which was not in a satisfactory condition and which had been modified by weighted objects being fitted into the padded section of the whip.

Richard Barry, spokesman for the RSPCA in Western Australia said the Society was relieved and delighted that Miller would not be riding for 12 months. “We think whipping horses is cruel and inhumane. Whipping them with an implement that has been modified with metal balls, presumably so it hurts more, is everything this organisation works against. I sincerely hope this young lad spends his twelve months off horses to reflect on the suffering he caused while he was on them.”