An interesting study on horse whipping in racing

Whipping increases appreciably at the two-furlong pole in whatever distance race is being run, and typically continues to the line.

While most horses in most races were whipped, the data show that there was a negative correlation between frequent whip use and winning. In fact, 40 of the 161 races were won by horses that were not whipped at all - that is, 25% of the total.

Also, see this interesting column in this week's New York Times, written about the future of thoroughbred racing -- and incidents like Eight Belles breakdown (though technically she wasn't racing when she was injured, so it wasn't really a breakdown) -- by famed breeder Jim Squires.