Target: Lisa Lazarus, CEO of Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority
Goal: Consider full ban on horse whipping during competitive events.
The jockey who rode racehorse Sovereignty to victory in the Kentucky Derby has been fined and suspended following an excessive whipping violation. Junior Alvarado struck his horse with a crop eight times during the race, above the six-strike threshold. It was Alvarado’s second violation in a short period of time and ninth violation overall.
The stricter rules regarding whipping were put in place following a series of racehorse deaths at a California track. Late in 2024, an Olympian from the United Kingdom was also handed down a lofty one-year suspension after video emerged of her whipping her horse excessively during training sessions. Whipping can have a demonstrated negative effect on the welfare of horses, given horse skin is as sensitive as human skin.
Sign the petition below to demand racing officials take the next logical step by enacting an outright ban on whipping in horseracing.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Ms. Lazarus,
The industry’s new whipping rules are not working. The winner of the Kentucky Derby was recently fined and suspended for a ninth time for excessive whipping. The lesson was clearly not learned the first eight times.
Despite claims that whipping makes racing safer, more efficient, and fairer, the research backs up none of these assertions. This practice is the equivalent of whipping runners to provoke them to go faster. Horse skin is no tougher or more pain-resistant than human skin. World Horse Welfare sums it best: “Respect for the horse must be at the heart of every equestrian, and every equestrian sport, and their actions must demonstrate that respect all of the time.”
Show this respect in action. Join Norway and other regions around the world who have embraced whip-free racing as a humane path forward that still enables competition without needless pain and harm.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Absolute Charm
