The winner of a significant race has been disqualified as a result of his rider used his whip too many instances.
Apprentice jockey Jamie Powell used his whip on 10 events as he rode to victory on Alphonse Le Grande within the Cesarewitch Handicap at Newmarket on Saturday.
It’s the third disqualification, and essentially the most excessive profile, from 16,000 races since new whip guidelines have been introduced in final yr.
The edge to be used of the whip was decreased by one to seven in jumps races and 6 in flat races, with 10 triggering a disqualification.
The incident was referred to the Whip Evaluate Committee (WRC), which disqualified Alphonse Le Grande and suspended Powell for 28 days, with unique runner-up Manxman awarded the race.
A British Horseracing Authority spokesperson stated such disqualifications have been introduced in to discourage “flagrant misuse of the whip” to “safeguard the equity” of race outcomes.
Final November, Alex Edwards became the first winner to be disqualified in practically 8,000 races because the guidelines have been launched, whereas Poppy Wynne misplaced her victory on Swift Tuttle in July.
“It sends a transparent message that we don’t tolerate misuse of the whip. There’s merely no excuse for utilizing the whip 4 instances or extra above the permitted degree,” the BHA spokesperson added.
“It’s encouraging that there have been so few cases of this being the case because the rule was launched, with this being solely the third time a winner has been disqualified for egregious overuse of the whip.
“The Whip Evaluate Committee (WRC) was launched to make sure consistency of decision-making round whip selections. It’s vital that selections of such significance as potential disqualification are dealt with in a constant method through this course of.”
