Alphonse Le Grande, who narrowly won the £175,000 Cesarewitch Handicap at Newmarket on Saturday under apprentice jockey Jamie Powell, has been disqualified for a whip offence, marking the most high-profile instance since penalties were introduced in 2023. Initial observations suggested Powell used his whip 10 times in the final quarter-mile, exceeding the Flat race limit of six strokes, which triggers automatic disqualification if confirmed by the British Horseracing Authority’s whip review committee.
The committee agreed with this assessment at their weekly meeting on Tuesday, disqualifying Alphonse Le Grande, trained by Cathy O’Leary in Ireland. Manxman, trained by Simon and Ed Crisford, was promoted to first place, earning £90,000, while Aqwaam, Run For Oscar, and Magellan Strait were elevated to second (£42,000), third (£21,000), and fourth (£10,500) respectively. Powell, a 3lb-claiming apprentice, received a 28-day riding ban. This is the third disqualification from first place since the 10-stroke rule was implemented nearly two years ago.
Mixedwave was disqualified from a handicap chase at Market Rasen in November 2023 after Alex Edwards used his whip 16 times, nine more than the jumps race limit of seven. Similarly, Swift Tuttle, ridden by amateur Poppy Wynne, lost a short-head victory in a stayers’ handicap at Doncaster this July. Brant Dunshea, the BHA’s chief regulatory officer, emphasized that there is no excuse for exceeding the whip limit by four strokes or more, noting the rarity of such incidents since the rule’s introduction.
