While to the uninitiated whipping race horses may seem cruel and totally unnecessary, the fundamental fact is that some horses require ultimate encouragement in order to generate maximum performance. Taking things back a ways, breed-changing super-sire Meadow Skipper was slated to be gelded following his final start as a 2-year-old at Hollywood Park, except that a frustrated catch-driver Joe Lighthill applied the whip on the final turn resulting in a season’s record 1:59 4/5 victory. Lighthill said: "as soon as I hit him he perked right up but when I let up he eased off.  I had to make him go". The end result was that they left him intact. The next spring in his initial start at age 3 at Santa Anita, new catch-driver Joe O'Brien, having been briefed about Meadow Skipper’s lethargic tendencies by Lighthill and trainer Foster Walker, whacked the colt causing him to hit the gate twice. He abruptly sprinted off to take the lead at the quarter pole and defeated heralded stablemate Meadow Russ in a then good 2:01 2/5. Said O'Brien: "He was the laziest darn colt I ever saw. I hollered to shake him up to no avail before startling him with an inadvertent whip to a delicate area." It worked! Thereafter Meadow Skipper was eventually purchased by Norman Woolworth's Clear View Stable and new trainer-driver Earle Avery was anything but shy about encouraging his acquisition to eventually blossom into the great race horse and breed-changing sire he was meant to be. However, it might be noted that Avery lost his whip in the climactic stretch drive at Lexington in which Meadow Skipper staved off Overtrick in a then record 1:55 1/5. Fortunately by that time the colt had long since figured out that his mission when racing was to give his all in an attempt to win. Meadow Skipper's first-crop son Most Happy Fella was lot like his father in terms of lethargic gate-leaving and requiring encouragement. Actually one can readily notice - via YouTube replays - driver-trainer Stanley Dancer's flailing right arm demanding he give his ultimate race after race. In addition, Mr. Dancer was not shy about demanding the best from Cardigan Bay, as one can note in his conquest of Bret Hanover in the so-billed race of the century at Yonkers in 1966. Following three spirited and demanding heats in the Little Brown Jug, Most Happy Fella showed no interest in a Red Mile time trial but rebounded with a brilliant come-from-behind effort in the Messenger at Roosevelt accompanied by Mr. Dancer's aggressive right arm. Moreover, one wonders if former record holder and outstanding sire Matt’s Scooter would have become the superstar he became without the diligent and persistent right arm of driver Mike Lachance, who took over driving duties early in his 3-year-old season. Not all the top drivers from decades ago were of the what might be called "whip heavy" mindset. Notably Herve Filion and Buddy Gilmour were what might be termed "finesse" drivers although either could "demand" should the situation call for it. Some might pinpoint present-day driver Joe Bongiorno as being somewhat similar to the old George Sholty in terms of holding the lines with one hand and flailing away with the other while visually bouncing in the sulky. However, the young Mr. Sholty seemed in total control of the situation even with his patented "rock the boat" urging, as his hands seemed to transmit the urgent message to the horse "keep going, don't dare stop." When Tarquinius and Sholty set the mile-and-one-half record in the 1964 Nassau Pace, they exchanged leads with Meadow Skipper three different times to the mile marker before Skipper gave up the chase with a punctured tire. Sholty then virtually carried Tarquinius the rest of the way, holding off super-closer Rusty Range until just after the wire when he pulled the big horse up. Young Mr. Bongiorno has a ways to go before approaching the young George Sholty, though it is hardly fair to compare any young driver to a Hall of Famer. It should also be pointed out that Bongiorno's style has been quite effective, especially in 2022 as he sits second in the driver standings at The Meadowlands behind Yannick Gingras, which is no small feat. Nowadays, due to the influence of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), excess whipping has emerged as a controversial topic. Many racing commissions including the New Jersey Racing Commission have opted to disallow or at least temper it substantially. At the 2021 Thoroughbred meeting at Monmouth Park, the handle was down some 17 percent as jockeys were dissuaded from carrying whips, leading to a controversial disqualification in its signature Haskell Stake. As for Harness Racing, most of our top drivers are not nearly as heavy-handed as many of their predecessors were, which is a good thing as far as public perception is concerned. Certainly current-day greats like Hall of Famer Brian Sears in particular will seldom if ever be accused of excessive whipping. But we still have a dilemma! If you see one person barely using the whip and another one perhaps overusing it, that inconsistency without background in the public arena can lead to uproar whether it is warranted or not. However, in over a half-century of race watching, I never once heard anyone holding tickets on a horse embattled in a head-to-head stretch duel insist his driver or jockey refrain from whipping and be gentle. It's a fine line it seems.