Carmouche fined, suspended one day for whip violation in Manhattan victory

Jockey Kendrick Carmouche was suspended one day and fined $5,500 for striking Deterministic seven times, one more than permissible by rule, in winning the Grade 1, $1 million Manhattan Stakes by a head over Integration Sunday at Saratoga, according to a ruling issued Thursday by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.

HISA rules allow jockeys to strike a horse six times during a race. When a jockey uses the whip seven to nine times, they are subject to a fine of $250 or 10 percent of their share of the purse, whichever is higher. Carmouche earned $55,000 for winning the Manhattan. In addition to a fine, the rider is suspended one day. Carmouche will serve his suspension on June 19.

“I’m not going to appeal it, I did go over,” Carmouche said Thursday at Aqueduct. “What I don’t understand is why you got to get a fine and a day; aren’t they taking enough from you from by taking $5,500 from you.”

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Carmouche said before HISA, the whip rules in Kentucky were a rider could use the whip in an underhand manner however many times they wanted.

Carmouche said if riders could do that and be limited to six overhand strikes, “I think we could be very adjustable to a rule like that,” he said. “We did change the whips three or four times since back in the day, it’s not as harsh. We’ve done everything in that regard to change the public perception. It seems like we need a change for us.”

Carmouche is the second rider in five weeks to get penalized in a high-profile race to receive penalties from HISA. Jockey Junior Alvarado was fined $62,000 for using his whip eight times on Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby. Alvarado has appealed his penalty.

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