Alphonse Le Grande was disqualified from first place at Club Godolphin Cesarewitch on Saturday after jockey Jamie Powell was found to have breached whip rules.
Riders are allowed to hit their horse a maximum of six times in a Flat race, and after hitting his horse 10 times, Powell crossed the threshold for disqualification.
Alphonse Le Grande narrowly edged out Manxman on the day, but the runner-up trained by Simon and Ed Crisford has now been promoted to first place.
Powell was referred to the Whip Review Committee after Newmarket administrators identified a possible breach. The decision was confirmed after review on Tuesday.
A statement from the British Horseracing Authority said: “After reviewing the race and the evidence, the WRC has confirmed that Mr Powell used the whip on 10 occasions.”
“All ten applications involved contact with the horse and none of the applications were clearly and unequivocally for safety purposes only.”
Whip violations are judged on a sliding scale of penalties that also takes into account the value of the race. Powell’s four additional blows result in a disqualification of the horse and a 28-day suspension for his apprentice rider.
The statement continued: “As 10 lashes is four times the limit allowed, Alphonse Le Grande has been disqualified from the race. In addition, Jamie Powell has been banned for 28 days as it is a tier two competition with a total prize fund of more than £150,000.”
Links of Cathy O’Leary-trained Alphonse Le Grande have seven days to appeal the decision.
Alphonse Le Grande is the third winner to be disqualified since revised whip rules were introduced last year.
Brant Dunshea, the BHA’s chief regulatory officer, believes the statistics prove the rules are working, although he acknowledges the frustration of those players who supported Manxman not receiving a payout in the 7-1 win.
He said: “The disqualification was introduced as a deterrent against blatant abuse of the whip, to ensure the fairness of race results and the fans’ perception of the sport. Since then it has been adopted by other major racing nations.”
“It sends a clear message that we will not tolerate misuse of the whip. There is simply no excuse for using the whip four or more times over the limit. It is encouraging that there have been so few instances since then where this has been the case.” The rule was introduced and this was only the third time a winner had been disqualified for excessive use of the whip
“We understand that some customers will question why this matter cannot be resolved on race day, particularly those who supported the day’s runner-up Manxman. However, this would present its own challenges and the whip review consultation process found a number of key audiences felt strongly that these matters should be addressed outside of race day.
“The Whip Review Committee was introduced to ensure consistent decision-making around Whip decisions. It is critical that decisions as significant as possible disqualification are handled in a consistent manner throughout this process.”
“This has already proven invaluable as on more than one occasion a ride was referred to the WRC, resulting in possible disqualification, but subsequently one or more uses of the whip were discounted by the WRC and the ride was therefore not disqualified .”