Alphonse Le Grande has been reinstated as the winner of last month’s Cesarewitch Handicap after an independent disciplinary panel appeal hearing overturned a verdict of excessive whip use.
The horse, ridden by apprentice jockey Jamie Powell, had crossed the line first at Newmarket on 12 October but was disqualified by a British Horseracing Authority committee because Powell was deemed to have used his whip too many times.
BHA rules brought in last year reduced the threshold for whip use by one to seven in jumps races and six in flat races, with 10 triggering a disqualification.
Powell was referred to the BHA’s whip review committee who awarded original runner-up Manxman the race and suspended Powell for 28 days for using his whip on 10 occasions.
However, connections of the horse contested the decision, taking it to the BHA’s independent appeals board. The independent panel found that an attempted 10th use of the whip did not make contact with the horse.
It means Alphonse Le Grande is restored as race winner while Powell has been given a 20-day suspension.
“We think the BHA has not satisfied us that there was contact as Mr Powell’s arm came back and the whip went across the back of the horse,” said panel chair Sarah Crowther.
“We find that his body position [when attempting the tenth use] was different to the first nine strikes. It seems to us that he was somewhat crouched and off balance to his left and very low in the saddle.
“Whilst his arm and hand were in the same angle as for the previous strikes, the change in body position had the effect of changing the angle of the strike.
“As Mr Powell retrieved his whip from that strike, pulling it back towards his right-hand side, there was contact. The question for us was whether that constituted use of the whip.
“Adopting a pragmatic interpretation of the word ‘use’, we find it is not every single contact between a whip and a horse that will amount to use. This was effectively an unavoidable contact, which could not have had any material impact on the performance of the horse. In all the circumstances, that contact did not constitute a use.
“Therefore, there were nine uses, three above the permitted level. The horse will be reinstated and the suspension [for Powell] will be 20 days.”
There have been two disqualifications from 16,000 races since the rules were changed.
Last November, Alex Edwards became the first winner to be disqualified in nearly 8,000 races since the rules were introduced, while Poppy Wynne lost her victory on Swift Tuttle in July.
