Ok - When riding as jockey I know that the up arrow pushes the horse along and that control left should activate the whip.
But when I tap control left I do not see or hear anything.
Is there another key that can be used or something in the menu that can fix it?
Tapping control left does activate the horse to jump.

The control button certainly works for me, there are 2 ways to check:
1. Watch the replay and it will clearly show if you were using the whip.
2. I have found that using the up arrow to push will only move the urge bar up to about 75%, to get it all the way to the top you have tu use the whip, this should be noticeable on the screen.

P.S. I am just glad there are no rules for whip abuse, I would be banned after every ride.

Nope - doesn't work for me. Replays just show me riding hands n heels.

Press the ctrl key repeatedly to start using the whip.

Or just like me get a controller

You need to tap fast enough. Below a certain frequency it won't work. Even in first person you should notice as the whip animation has different hand movements which you will notice (you should also hear the whip sound now and again).

Thanks Mark - didn't realise I had to tap fast. Will try it out later

I'm on a Mac and I had this problem. The C key is my Whip button, for some reason.

Will try that out as well. Thanks.

Remember as there are no whip rules or animated sprites activists just pretend you're a brothel madam and go whip happy .