A winner at the prestigious Grand National Festival has been disqualified after its jockey was found to have violated strict new whip regulations, highlighting a significant challenge for British horseracing.
Laafi, a 20-1 victor in the Debenhams Handicap Hurdle at Aintree on Friday, was stripped of its title following a ruling against rider Patrick O’Brien.
The six-year-old, trained in Ireland by William Durkan, had triumphed in a race restricted to conditional jockeys and amateur riders.
However, the British Horseracing Authority’s whip review committee determined O’Brien used his whip four times above the permitted level of seven after the second-last hurdle. With none of these uses deemed for safety, Laafi was disqualified, and O’Brien received a 28-day suspension.
This marks the fifth winning horse to be disqualified since the new whip rules were introduced in 2023, from a total exceeding 30,000 winning rides.
In the same race, Toby McCain-Mitchell, rider of Melon, who now moves up to first place, also breached regulations by using his whip twice above the limit. As this was his fourth suspension for the same offence within six months, McCain-Mitchell has been referred to the judicial panel.
O’Brien and McCain-Mitchell were among several jockeys who fell foul of the updated whip rules at Aintree. Darragh O’Keeffe and Jonjo O’Neill Jr both faced multiple breaches, while Harry Skelton also incurred a ban.
O’Keeffe received a three-day suspension (May 2-5) for incorrect whip placement aboard Manifesto Novices’ Chase winner Koktail Divin, followed by another four days (May 6-9) for a similar offence on Hiddenvalley Lake, who finished fifth in the Liverpool Hurdle.
O’Neill Jr was found to have used his whip once above the permitted level on Wellington Arch, winner of the William Hill Handicap Hurdle. Despite mitigation for his riding record, the penalty was doubled due to the Class 1 status of the race, resulting in a six-day suspension (May 2 and May 4-8).
O’Neill Jr’s second transgression of the week occurred in the Randox Grand National itself, riding runner-up Iroko. He again exceeded the whip limit once from turning into the straight, earning him a further eight-day suspension (May 9-16).
Skelton’s breach, on Grand National day in the William Hill Handicap Chase, involved using his whip down the shoulder in the forehand position with his hand off the reins on winner Mr Hope Street, leading to a three-day ban (May 2, 4-5).
