Jockey Chris Hayes has maintained his criticism over the new whip limit rule in racing, saying that the "crime and the punishment need to match."

The 2019 St Leger winner was on Friday Night Racing with John Duggan and Thom Malone and said that while in theory, he agrees with the rule limiting the number of strokes on a horse to eight, in practice it needed alteration.

"I think the rule needs a little bit of tweaking in how it's implemented," the 32-year old explained to Duggan and Malone.

"I think the penalties are a bit harsh. It's kind of a totting up, where you get a caution, you'll get a day, you'll get two days depending on what your offence is.

"But for example, if I'd gone through all of them and I'm hitting my fourth offence and I'm neck and neck in a group one and I give an extra flick down the shoulder with my hand off the reign and then you have an apprentice that gives a horse twelve smacks and it's his first offence.

"He's liable to just go in and get a caution or a day, whereas I'm going up to the turf club for six days."

It is this example that Hayes references when he notes that the sanctions must be in line with the severity of the offence for the rule to be practical.

"I think it can be tweaked. And I think everyone will be happy if we all sat down and came up with a fair way of doing it, " he said.

"If you give a horse a flick down the shoulder and your hand is off the reign its counted as one strike, which, to me, it just doesn't make sense."

One key thing that Hayes is seeking is for stewards to have discretion with punishments, dishing them out as they see fit.

"I think if you just give back the discretion to the stewards on the day and maybe just change the penalties a little bit and have it like, you know, your driving licence, and you get your penalty points as such.

"I think they could do something similar with the whip: if you reach x amount of numbers as a penalty you are then sent up to the turf club and they will see how to deal with you."

Hayes also concluded that whips used in racing today are not the harsh instruments that were once used on horses.

"The new whips that they brought in a few years ago, they are well padded, they are well made and we are being educated on how to use them properly."

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