Alphonse Le Grande’s Victory Restored After Appeal Overturns Whip Use Disqualification

Alphonse Le Grande has been reinstated as the winner of last month’s Cesarewitch Handicap, following an independent disciplinary panel’s appeal hearing that reversed an earlier verdict of excessive whip use. The horse, ridden by apprentice jockey Jamie Powell, had initially crossed the finish line first at Newmarket on 12 October. However, a British Horseracing Authority (BHA) committee subsequently disqualified it, deeming that Powell had used his whip too many times. BHA rules, introduced last year, lowered the permissible threshold for whip use to seven strikes in jumps races and six in flat races, with 10 strikes triggering an automatic disqualification. Powell was referred to the BHA’s whip review committee, which then awarded the race to the original runner-up, Manxman, and suspended Powell for 28 days for what they determined to be 10 instances of whip use. However, the horse’s connections challenged this decision, taking their appeal to the BHA’s independent appeals board. The independent panel concluded that an attempted 10th use of the whip resulted in inadvertent contact with the horse and did not constitute a strike. Consequently, Alphonse Le Grande is restored as the race winner, while Powell’s suspension has been adjusted to 20 days. Panel chair Sarah Crowther stated, “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.” She further explained, “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.” Crowther continued, “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.” She concluded on this point, “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,” Crowther affirmed. Since the rules were changed, there have been only two disqualifications from 16,000 races. Last November, Alex Edwards became the first winner to be disqualified in nearly 8,000 races since the rules’ introduction, and Poppy Wynne’s victory on Swift Tuttle was also overturned in July.