BHA whip rules

Grand National Festival winner Laafi (Cloth Of Stars) has been disqualified after jockey Patrick O'Brien was found to have breached whip regulations. The six-year-old, trained in Ireland by William Durkan, was a 20-1 winner of the Debenhams Handicap Hurdle at Aintree on Friday, a race restricted to conditional jockeys and amateur riders. The British Horseracing Authority's Whip Review Committee subsequently found that O'Brien had used his whip four times above the permitted level of seven from jumping the second last and, taking into account that none of the uses were...

A selection of small adjustments have been introduced to the new whip rules, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) announced on Thursday. There has been ongoing communication between the Professional Jockeys Association (PJA), senior jockeys under both codes and the BHA, and the rule adjustments are the result. "We are very grateful to the PJA and to our jockeys, both for the manner in which they continue to adapt to riding under the new rules, and their constructive engagement with the process which has helped bring about these further improvements," said...