Among the many points discussed during the last Committee of the year, this Wednesday, December 11, was the supervision of the use of the crop. A point already greatly raised on January 27, 2024 by Marjaana Alaviuhkola then explained during the Extraordinary General Assembly of the UET on July 15. As a reminder, two main principles were unanimously adopted within the framework of European regulations: the whip remains a safety element and should not be used to hit your horse; and a jockey/driver is only allowed to urge his horse with a movement of the wrist. The principles in question had to be transposed in each Member State before 1is April 2025, date of application of this new regulation on a continental scale. Unanimously, the members of the Committee voted in favor of limiting its use “to give a signal to the horse” (wrist movement only).
The whip will therefore, from the aforementioned date, be prohibited by the racing code. “This December 11, 2024 is a historic date, because the Committee this Wednesday morning voted unanimously in favor of modifying the use of the whip in trotting races in France”, rejoices the Technical Director of Trot, Guillaume Maupas. The concept of whipping is now banned from SETF regulations. We are now talking about the authorization to give a signal to a trotter, that is to say to make a wrist movement. I think it’s something major in terms of animal welfare and the image of racing, because whipping a horse is no longer acceptable to the public today.”See the SETF press release below.
SETF Committee: A 2025 budget under the sign of prudence and a historic modification concerning the use of the whip
This Wednesday morning, the last Committee of the year 2024 for the SETF was held in Paris-Vincennes. The 2025 budget, ensuring the maintenance of allocations and validated by the Board of Directors, was presented to members, as well as several regulatory measures adopted unanimously.
A positive operating result in 2024
In 2024, the SETF continued its transformation while taking into account the difficult economic context and PMU results below expectations. Thanks to this rigorous and permanent management, the Société du Trotteur Français displays a positive operating result of 3.6 million euros. 287.4 million euros in incentives (race prizes, bonuses to the breeder and stables) were distributed over the financial year and 6.7 million euros in other support (including 3.3 million in aid employment and 2.1 million in social assistance).
Caution for 2025
By constructing its 2025 budget, based on a calendar and taxation almost identical to 2024, the SETF is counting on a resource linked to horse racing betting of €825 million, €20 million less than that voted by the board of directors of the PMU. In this downward context of the horse racing stakes, the Parent Company is therefore sticking to “a cautious view of its future revenues” and has planned to maintain racing allocations and incentives as is (294 million euros). This would result in a positive net result of 1.7 million euros. Note that these figures include in 2025 a fee paid to the city of Paris as part of an amendment to the current contract which must be ratified by the Paris Council next week. Discussions regarding the renewal of the 30-year concession for the Paris-Vincennes Hippodrome are still ongoing between the parties.
Regularity of departures, use of the crop: new regulatory provisions
This end-of-year Committee also validated regulatory changes proposed by the Code Commission. The main modification concerns the use of the whip in racing. Unanimously, the members of the Committee voted in favor of limiting its use “to give a signal to the horse” (wrist movement only). The whip is permanently banned from the regulations, following the decisions taken by the UET General Assembly in July 2023.
After several meetings of the Code Commission and discussions with drivers and jockeys, aware of the problem concerning the regularity of starts (insubordination, delay, restart, etc.) and following a repetition of incidents noted, a new scale will be applied from January 1, 2025, combining financial sanction and withdrawal of the authorization to ride (depending on the quality of the race: series prices, quintés, Group races), both for races with a start volts than behind the autostart.
On the other hand, the establishment of an annual joker to replace the authorization to race in Group I, II and III races for riding bans equal to or less than 8 days is not retained. An assessment of the evolution of departure conditions will be carefully examined before any new changes to the regulations.
