Alphonse Le Grande was disqualified from first place in the Caesar witch and jockey Jamie Powell suspended for 28 days after using his whip four times above the permitted level during his victory at Newmarket on Saturday.

With the disqualification of Alphonse Le Grande, Manxman was promoted to first in the Cesarewitch with Aqwaam second, Run For Oscar third and Magellan Strait fourth.

Alphonse Le Grande becomes the highest-profile disqualification since new whipping rules came into force early last year and made misuse of the whip an offense punishable by the loss of a race.

Powell’s ride had been referred to the Whip Review Committee (WRC), which meets twice a week, by Newmarket stewards on Saturday after counting the apprentice appearing to use his whip ten times during the 2 handicap m2f.

At a WRC hearing on Tuesday, it was determined that Powell used the whip ten times and that none of those uses were for safety reasons, which would have mitigated against the use of the whip. Connections has seven days to appeal the decision.

Brant Dunshea, BHA’s director of regulation, said disqualification was intended in the rules to act as a “deterrent against blatant misuse of the whip” and that there was “simply no excuse for using the whip.” whip four times above the authorized level.”

He added: “It is encouraging that there have been so few such cases since the rule was introduced, and this is only the third time a winner has been disqualified for excessive use and blatant whipping. »

Despite his disqualification, Alphonse Le Grande was declared the winner for the bettors of the day according to the first round rule. Dunshea said he sympathized with the punters who had backed Manxman, but that returning the whip’s decisions was the best way to ensure fairness.

He said: “We understand that some customers will wonder why this problem cannot be resolved on race day. However, this would present its own challenges, and the consultation process for the whip review revealed a strong preference from several key audiences for these issues to be addressed outside of race day.

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