Irish horse Alphonse Le Grande reinstated as Newmarket Cesarewitch winner a month later – The Irish Times

British racing’s whip rules are starting to look ridiculous after the Irish-trained Alphonse Le Grande was reinstated as the winner of last month’s Newmarket Cesarewitch race on Thursday.

Alphonse Le Grande beat the Manxman by a nose in the historic marathon handicap on October 12, only for jockey Jamie Powell to be referred to the British Horseracing Authority’s whip review committee after it was revealed he had hit the horse 10 times.

Under controversial rules introduced by the BHA a year ago, 10 or more strikes result in a horse being disqualified from races of certain value. There have only been two previous disqualifications under regulations designed to deter misuse of the whip.

But in betting terms, the winner of the day was Alphonse Le Grande, and punters who backed the 33-1 shot on the back of trainer Cathy O’Leary were paid out.

Three days later, the whip review committee ruled that Powell had struck Alphonse Le Grande 10 times and the horse was disqualified. Powell was also banned for 28 days.

While it may have been a bitter pill to swallow for those backing the Manxman’s 7-1 thrashing on the day, his connections were forced to lament another turn in the story this week following a call from Alphonse Le Grande that proved successful.

Powell’s final attack attempt was judged to have missed the horse and the Irish horse, now under the care of his former trainer Tony Martin, O’Leary’s brother, was again adjudged the winner.

An independent BHA disciplinary panel concluded that one of Powell’s attacks, which involved contact with the horse moving the whip from one hand to the other, was not intentional.

Panel chair Sarah Crowther KC said: “We found that his body position was different from the first nine strokes; it appears to us that he was slightly crouched to his left, off-balance and well below the saddle.

“While his arm and hand were at the same angle as the previous strokes, the change in body position and the horse’s different strides had the effect of changing the angle of the stroke.

“The common point was that there was contact when Mr. Powell, on his way back, took the whip and pulled it to his right side and brought it forward. “It seemed to us that the real question was whether this contact meant the use of a whip.”

He added: “Adopting a pragmatic interpretation of the word ‘use’ in the context of the rules as a whole, and from our experience on the racing panel, we find that not every contact between a whip and a horse amounts to a blow.

“We consider this to be a fact-sensitive question and, particularly considering the facts of this case, we find that the contact was made under circumstances in which Mr Powell took his baton from the wrong side of the horse and that this was effectively unavoidable contact which could not have had a material impact on the performance of the horse.”

Powell was found to have used the whip nine times, three of them above the permissible level, and his sentence was reduced to 20 days.

The result was finally settled, more than a month late, after a risky chain of events that left the BHA in the lurch as a result of one of the biggest betting handicaps of the year.

Additionally, after the Whip Review Committee gave 72 hours to review the footage in detail and failed to establish what the appeal body did, this will inevitably raise questions about the Whip Review Committee’s decision.

Alphonse Le Grande raced four times for O’Leary after Tony Martin was suspended by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Authority for breaching doping rules earlier this year. Alphonse Le Grande’s suspension was extended after it was determined that he acted in a way that undermined the integrity of racing following his win at Newcastle in June.