The New Jersey Racing Commission on Wednesday adopted a rule that will prohibit a jockey from using a whip on horses “except for reasons of safety” beginning with the start of the Monmouth Park meet next year. The rule, which is the most restrictive of a number of regulations recently adopted by commissions across the U.S. dealing with whip use, was adopted on a unanimous vote over the objections of The Jockeys’ Guild, a national organizations that advocates for riders, and the operator of Monmouth Park. Under the rule, stewards at New Jersey racetracks will be responsible for determining whether a jockey used the whip for “to control the horse to avoid injury to the horse or rider,” rather than encouraging a horse to run faster. The rule allows for riders to be fined, suspended, and/or forfeit their shares of a winning purse if stewards determine that the whip was used “to achieve a better placing,” according to the rule. In a statement accompanying the proposed new rules – which replaced a rule prohibiting use of the whip in “an abusive or reckless manner” – the commission stated that the new restrictions would address public-perception problems. “The prohibition of the use of riding crops, except when necessary for the safety of horse or rider, will be perceived in a positive light by the general public,” said the statement. “The proposed repeal and new rules are of the utmost importance in adapting the industry to avoid the currently negative public perception of whipping a horse.” :: Want to get your Past Performances for free? Click to learn more. According to participants in the telephonic meeting held Wednesday, the rule was set to go into effect later this year, while Monmouth Park was still running live races, but the commission’s executive director, Judith Nason, agreed to postpone the implementation until next year. Representatives of The Jockeys’ Guild submitted a letter to the New Jersey commission after the rule was first proposed last year objecting to the blanket ban on the use of the whip. On Thursday, officials of the Guild reiterated that they did not believe that stewards were in a position to adequately interpret riders’ actions during the running of the race. “The jockeys are the ones riding the horse, and they are the ones who can anticipate what the horse is going to do next,” said Mindy Coleman, the general counsel for the Guild, on Thursday morning. “That’s why they are professional athletes. That’s why they are professional jockeys.” The new rule is an outlier to recent whip-use regulations passed in other states across the U.S., which generally limit riders to using the whip two or three times in the stretch until giving the horse a chance to respond. In addition, racing jurisdictions in the mid-Atlantic, including New Jersey, have been attempting to cooperate on implementing uniform rules for racing across the region, and the New Jersey rule is not consistent with the rules recently adopted in Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia, which also have some differences among them as well. Terry Meyocks, the National Manager of the Guild, whose son-in-law is leading rider Javier Castellano, said that the Guild is getting frustrated that the industry has not been able to agree on one rule governing whip use in all racing jurisdictions. He also said that input from leading riders is being ignored in many jurisdictions. “It’s just typical of the industry that we can’t work together,” he said. Earlier this month, federal legislation that would put in place a national regulatory body for uniform rules was introduced into the Senate and is widely expected by its supporters to pass later this year. The legislation anticipates that the national regulatory authority would issue a national rule on use of the whip.