Jockeys' Guild files lawsuit over New Jersey’s new whip rules

The Jockeys’ Guild has filed a civil appeal of a rule passed earlier this year by the New Jersey Racing Commission that would prohibit riders from using a whip “except for reasons of safety,” the guild said Tuesday.

In a release, the guild said that the appeal was filed in the Appellate Division of New Jersey Superior Court on Thursday by the guild’s legal representative. The release stated the guild believed that the commission acted without considering input from riders on the impact of the new rule, which is considered the most restrictive of a number of regulations passed recently in racing states restricting the use of the whip.

“We strongly believe the rule adopted by the New Jersey Racing Commission will have serious consequences and could result in even greater risks and dangers for both horses and jockeys,” said Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez, the guild’s co-chairman.

Mindy Coleman, the guild’s general counsel, said Tuesday morning in an interview that the suit argues that the commission violated state regulations that require a quorum of nine to approve any rule changes. At the time the rule was adopted early this year, the commission had only four members, with five vacancies. Under New Jersey statute, a quorum is at least five of nine.

The guild is being represented in the suit by Rivkin Radler, a law firm in Hackensack.

The lawsuit also contends that the commission acted in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner when adopting the new rule by failing to involve jockeys in the drafting and consideration of the regulation, Coleman said.

While the guild has objected to aspects of new regulations that have been adopted in states across the United States, this is the first time that the organization has mounted a legal challenge to a new rule. Many of the new restrictions in other states limit the number of times that a jockey can use the whip to encourage a horse, and they also give stewards the discretion to determine whether a rider used the whip to avoid a dangerous situation.

The New Jersey rule would prohibit riders from encouraging a horse and would give stewards the discretion as to whether the whip was used “to control the horse to avoid injury to the horse or rider.”

Stewards would have the power to fine, suspend, or require forfeiture of the purse if a rider is determined to have used the whip “to achieve a better placing,” according to the rule.

The New Jersey rule will not go into effect until the start of live Thoroughbred racing next year at Monmouth Park, which is scheduled to begin its 2021 live meet in early May.