The Irish-trained Alphonse Le Grande has been disqualified from the English Cesarewitch, all of three days after passing the post at Newmarket.
The British Horseracing Authority’s Whip Review Committee met on Tuesday and confirmed what many felt to be an inevitable disqualification after judging Alphonse Le Grande’s jockey Jamie Powell to have used his whip 10 times on the Cathy O’Leary-trained winner.
Alphonse Le Grande is just the third ‘winner’ to be thrown out after being referred to the Committee under BHA rules introduced last year.
Under those rules, jockeys are permitted to hit a horse six times, and if they go four strikes over that the result is amended. It means Saturday’s original runner-up Manxman gets the race.
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A BHA statement also confirmed that Powell, a 3lb claiming apprentice from Co Kildare, has received a 28-day suspension. Alphonse Le Grande’s connections have seven days to lodge any appeal.
For now, though, it closes an embarrassing scenario for Britain’s racing authorities on the back of one of the most prestigious and biggest betting handicaps of the season.
The glaring dichotomy of Manxman entering the history books as a Cesarewitch winner but those who backed him on the day losing out has underlined the folly of such rule breaches not being sorted on the day. Alphonse Le Grande backers were paid out on the 33-1 ‘winner’.
What appeared to many as a straightforward tot of Powell’s strikes – it quickly emerged after the race that the case would be referred – was instead postponed 72 hours.
The BHA defended the process on Tuesday.
In a statement, it said: “Following the publication of the initial recommendations of the Whip Consultation Steering Group, a further period of consultation and technical discussions was held with a range of audiences, including participants, customers, bookmakers, racing broadcasters and beyond.
“A clear recommendation emerged from this process that the decision should be taken away from race day. This view was especially strong from the betting industry (with the perspective of their customers very much in mind), as well as racing broadcasters.
“Managing the situation away from race day allows for these decisions – which are of critical importance – to be made by the WRC, which ensures consistency of process and decision-making, which was a core theme of the whip review.
“This also allows for checks and balances to be in place in relation to the referrals, for example in relation to what counts as a usage of the whip, whether a whip use has definitely made contact, or whether it was used unequivocally for safety reasons.
“This has proven essential on more than one occasion since the new rules were introduced as rides have been referred carrying a potential disqualification, but the WRC, when applying its consistent methodology, found that one or more uses of the whip should be discounted and therefore the rider not disqualified.”
Tuesday’s WRC decision appeared ultimately to be straightforward with the BHA stating: “All ten uses made contact with the horse, and none of the uses were clearly and unequivocally for safety purposes only.”
The BHA’s chief regulatory officer, Brant Dunshea, pointed out how disqualification for whip offences also takes place around the world.
“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,” Dunshea said.
“It sends a clear message that we do not tolerate misuse of the whip. There is simply no excuse for using the whip four times or more above the permitted level. It is encouraging that there have been so few instances of this being the case since the rule was introduced, with this being only the third time a winner has been disqualified for egregious overuse of the whip,” he added.
In other news, the likelihood is growing that races run on Ascot’s round course for Saturday’s British Champions Day will wind up transferred to the inner National Hunt track, similar to a year ago.
With up to 25mm of rain forecast by Saturday, and the going officially heavy and soft in places on the round course, the odds are officials will be forced into such a move.
Clerk of the course Chris Stickels said: “The forecast is unsettled, and we are expecting some heavy showers throughout the week and then into Saturday morning.
“We’ve had 10 millimetres on Monday morning which has meant the round course is now heavy, soft in places. Given that, and the volume of rain forecast, it’s quite likely we’ll end up on the inner course on Saturday.
“Forecasts can change, but at the moment that’s the impression we’ve got, and we’ll aim to make the decision as soon as we can, so everyone has clarity.”
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