Harness: Use caution when going to the whip

When you are driving on the highway are you the type of person to slow to a crawl to check out an accident or do you roll by and continue on your way in an expedient manner? I’d argue that the majority of us fall somewhere in the gray area of taking a quick peek (known as rubbernecking) as we slow ever so slightly to observe the situation.

Since the majority of us aren’t out on the track and accidents in racing thankfully don’t occur at the ridiculously high levels as on the road, perhaps the harness racing version of rubbernecking deals with the fines and suspensions report released each Friday by the USTA. Like a new song from an artist, the listing of wrongdoings is dropped each week to anticipation by many. I’m not among them. While I completely understand the need for the report and agree that it should be released, it always includes bad news and I try to keep things a bit more positive.

Simply due to an obligation to be aware of everything going on in harness racing for my job, I do browse the report many weeks and did so on June 20. What struck me is not so much the number of whipping violations (14) but the severity of them.

Jason Bartlett, the leading driver in the sport in terms of earnings and second in wins this year, was fined $250 and suspended three days for “excessive or indiscriminate use of the whip” when driving Ayr Corleon GB on May 13 (Race 4 at Yonkers Raceway). The fine explanation added that he caused injury to the horse (welts) and that it was his second whipping-related offense in 365 days.

I’ve watched Bartlett drive thousands of races and never thought him to be a person that carelessly whipped his horses. So I went back to watch the replay and while he used the whip more than perhaps in a normal race, it was nothing but light taps that perhaps landed in the same area and caused the irritation. It is also worth noting that Bartlett’s horse was somewhat difficult to steer and seemed to need repeated encouragement to keep his mind on business.

“He was very steppy in all the turns and I was just keeping the whip on his tail or tapping him to make sure he stayed up on the bit,” said Bartlett. “I was very surprised that I welted the horse considering how much I touched him [with the whip] and how it looks on the video.”

Next I went to check Bartlett’s previous fines and suspensions to see what his “official” track record is when it comes to these offenses. He was suspended seven days and fined $500 for whipping Outlaw Man N after the wire in race five on February 4, 2025 at Yonkers Raceway. The replay confirms that he did strike the shaft and likely the horse once after the wire but it is curious because he was only lightly tapping the horse with the whip in the late stages of the race when he was clearly tiring. So, was there a purpose to the decision?

After listening to Bartlett’s explanation, I described it to him as almost a teaching moment for the horse to deter poor behavior, but the driver stopped me. “Yeah, but I shouldn’t have done that,” admitted Bartlett, who added that the horse was running out on the last turn and trying to pull himself up a bit in the stretch.

Digging deeper into Bartlett’s whipping infractions, he has two from 2024, none in 2023 and two in 2022. That is six total incidents in 9,128 drives. Hardly a large number. So the question looms, is a driving suspension warranted when the number of incidents is so small relative to the sample size?

In 2024, the New York State Gaming Commission adapted new rules for whipping violations in an effort to promote “health and safety” in an environment where mistreatment of horses has been heavily under the microscope. The penalties are as follows:

NEW YORK WHIPPING FINES/SUSPENSIONS

Suspension Fine

First offense none $100

Second offense 3 days $250

Third offense 7 days $500

Fourth offense 15 days $1,000

Fifth or more: For each subsequent offense, the penalty for both suspension days and the amount of the fine shall be double the last penalty imposed.

For Bartlett, he isn’t completely against the new fines system. “I don’t think that the penalties are too stiff, I just think in the moment of battle while trying to win a horse race some of us forget and raise our elbows too high or put in four hits when it should be three,” said the driver. “[The new fines] probably needed to come, but it is just a hard adjustment and you don’t have too many chances during the year to mess up.”

While Bartlett hasn’t faced some of the stricter penalties on the list, driver Anthony Napolitano hasn’t been quite as lucky. He was hit with a $1,000 fine and a 15 day suspension on May 19 at Yonkers for violating the whipping rule by “using more than forearm and wrist action”. His previous infractions over the last 365 days – Sept. 2 (whip above shoulder- $200), July 8 (whipping after wire causing visible injury - $250), July 6 (whip above shoulder - $200) and March 11 (whip above shoulder - $200) – all occurred at Pocono Downs in Pennsylvania where the rules are more lax.

While New York is cut and dry, the language for whipping fines is much more vague in Pennsylvania. Infractions are placed into two categories - minor and major. While it isn’t clearly outlined, it appears that “causing visible injury to the horse” and “whipping a horse after the finish or after a horse is no longer in contention” are considered major offenses. The fines are as follows in Pennsylvania:

PENNSYLVANIA WHIPPING FINES/SUSPENSIONS

1st 2nd 3rd

Minor offense $200 $200 $200

Major fines $250 $500 $500

Major suspension 3 days 5 days 10 days

The key to the above is that minor offenses do not include suspensions in Pennasylvania but do count against the driver in New York. So, again, Napolitano had to serve 15 days even though he only had one New York offense. If that fourth infraction occured in Pennsylvania he would’ve only gotten a $200 fine. Interestingly, on July 8 he was fined for whipping after the wire at Pocono but didn’t get a suspension. So are the rules even the rules?

Napolitano has six whipping-related violations on his record dating back to 2022 in 5,256 drives. Certainly worse than Bartlett in terms of percentage but hardly over the top from a numbers standpoint. Did he deserve a 15 day suspension? In a world where you need a separate license to race in New York and Pennsylvania, should an action in one state carryover into another one?

“I do think it is too strict that way, but I understand why they are doing it,” said Bartlett – who drives at both Pocono and Yonkers – on infractions from different states staying on your record.

Using a loose parallel, if you commit a moving violation in Pennsylvania you get a fine but won’t receive points on your New York license. Should New York have a similar rule for drivers in a race and charge the fine but not include a suspension if the previous violations came elsewhere? My reasoning here is that violation can be different in each state or even track to track depending on who the Judges are in the booth. Two people could interpret the same action differently.

“It costs us a lot of money,” said Bartlett about the suspensions. “Not only do you get hurt during the days off but you feel it for two to three weeks after, because now you’ve lost some of the drives that you would normally have.”

Drawing on personal experience, and I’m far from a professional driver, but there was more than one time when I was out on the track when I simply forgot to pull the earplugs in the moment. I recall only one time when after the fact I felt I excessively whipped, but when you are in the race your mind is focused on winning, not necessarily how many times you whipped the horse or the shaft.

Just ask winning Kentucky Derby jockey Junior Alvarado, who was originally suspended two days and fined $62,000 for hitting Sovereignty eight times with the riding crop instead of six. I can only imagine how much concentration it must take to count strikes when trying to win the Kentucky Derby, though apparently Alvarado had many previous offenses. He appealed the decision.

“[The Judges] tend to think we can be perfect but we are all in the moment sometimes, whether we are driving a $5,000 claimer or an Open pacer. I’m trying to win,” said Bartlett.

I completely understand the reasoning for strict whipping rules and in no way condone excessive or extreme whipping of horses. If someone is consistently doing something wrong they should be properly punished. That said, in this system a person that drives 50 times a year and commits three whipping violations is treated the same as someone who drives 2,000 times and has the same number of infractions. Logic would state there is a greater chance of making a mistake in the moment the more you are on the track. Shouldn’t the rules reflect that?