Alphonse Le Grande has been disqualified from first place in Saturday’s Membership Godolphin Cesarewitch after jockey Jamie Powell was discovered to have breached the whip guidelines.
Riders are allowed to strike their horse a most of six occasions in a Flat race and having hit his mount 10 occasions, Powell crossed the edge for disqualification.
Alphonse Le Grande prevailed by a nostril on the day over Manxman, however the Simon and Ed Crisford-trained runner-up has now been promoted to first place.
Powell was referred to the Whip Evaluation Committee after the Newmarket stewards discovered a potential breach had occurred, with the choice confirmed following consideration on Tuesday.
A British Horseracing Authority assertion mentioned: “Having reviewed the race and the proof, the WRC has confirmed that the whip was used on 10 events by Mr Powell.
“All 10 uses made contact with the horse, and none of the uses were clearly and unequivocally for safety purposes only.”
Contraventions of the whip are judged on a sliding scale for penalty, which additionally takes under consideration the worth of the race, with Powell’s 4 additional hits triggering the penalty of disqualification for the horse and a 28-day ban for his apprentice rider.
The assertion added: “As 10 uses of the whip is four above the permitted level, Alphonse Le Grande has been disqualified from the race. In addition, Jamie Powell has been suspended for 28 days, this being a class two contest with a total prize fund of more than £150,000.”
Connections of the Cathy O’Leary-trained Alphonse Le Grande have seven days to lodge any enchantment in opposition to the choice.
Alphonse Le Grande is the third winner to be disqualified since revised whip guidelines had been applied final yr.
Brant Dunshea, chief regulatory officer for the BHA, feels that statistic proves the principles are working, though he acknowledged the frustration of these punters who backed Manxman and won’t be paid out on the 7-1 winner.
He mentioned: “Disqualification was introduced as a deterrent against flagrant misuse of the whip, in order to safeguard the fairness of race results and perception amongst the sport’s fans. It has since been adopted by other major racing nations.
“It sends a transparent message that we don’t tolerate misuse of the whip. There may be merely no excuse for utilizing the whip 4 occasions or extra above the permitted degree. It’s encouraging that there have been so few cases of this being the case for the reason that rule was launched, with this being solely the third time a winner has been disqualified for egregious overuse of the whip
“We understand that some customers will question why this matter cannot be resolved on raceday, especially those who backed the on-the-day runner up Manxman. However, this would present its own challenges, and the consultation process of the whip review revealed a strong preference from several key audiences that these matters should be handled away from raceday.
“The Whip Evaluation Committee was launched to make sure consistency of resolution making round whip choices. It’s vital that choices of such significance as potential disqualification are dealt with in a constant method by way of this course of.
“This has already proved invaluable as on more than one occasion a ride has been referred to the WRC carrying potential disqualification, but subsequently one or more uses of the whip discounted by the WRC and the ride therefore not disqualified.”
