A £50,000 question about what, exactly, constitutes a “use” of the whip was resolved in favour of the connections of Alphonse Le Grande on Thursday, as the horse that won last month’s Cesarewitch Handicap by a nose and was then thrown out by the British Horseracing Authority’s whip review committee three days later was reinstated as the winner following an appeal hearing in London.
Jamie Powell, an apprentice jockey with only a handful of previous rides in Britain, was judged to have used his whip 10 times on Alphonse Le Grande when the case was considered by the WRC on 15 October – four strokes over the limit of six, and therefore triggering automatic disqualification under a strict new regime on use of the whip which was introduced in early 2023.
