Whip guidelines: Jockeys to be disqualified for severe breaches

Jockey's whip

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The new whip rules could come into force later this year

Horses whose jockeys seriously breach whip rules will be disqualified under new plans for British racing.

The rules will apply to riders who use four or more strikes above the permitted threshold.

Jockeys must use the whip in the backhand position only and face double the length of suspensions for overuse in major races.

The changes are put forward in a report by the British Horseracing Authority’s (BHA) whip consultation steering group.

If the rules had been in place earlier this year, Grand National winner Noble Yeats would have been disqualified.

Winning rider Sam Waley-Cohen was suspended for nine days and fined £400 for using his whip above the permitted level and in the incorrect place.

The amateur jockey did not serve the ban as he had already announced his retirement.

A minority of the steering group argued that the whip should be removed for encouragement, as is now the case in Scandinavia, but this was not adopted.

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