Grand National Festival winner disqualified and jockey issued ban after major rule break

Grand National Festival winner Laafi has been disqualified and jockey Patrick O’Brien has been banned for breaking rules around the use of a whip.

The six-year-old horse was a 20-1 winner of the Debenhams Handicap Hurdle at Aintree last Friday.

However, the British Horseracing Authority’s (BHA) whip review committee concluded that O’Brien had used his whip 11 times after jumping the second-to-last hurdle – four times more than the permitted number.

As none of the uses of the whip were for safety purposes, Laafi was disqualified and O’Brien has been handed a 28-day suspension.

The panel’s report read: ‘Patrick O’Brien, the rider of the winner, LAAFI (FR), was found to have used his whip four times above the permitted level of seven from jumping the second last hurdle.

‘Taking into account that none of the uses were clearly and unequivocally for safety purposes, LAAFI (FR) was disqualified under Rule (L)47.11. As this was a Class 2 race restricted to conditional and amateur riders only, the penalty in respect of being above permitted level was doubled.’

Melon, who finished runner-up behind Laafi, has now been declared the winning horse of the race which was restricted to conditional jockeys and amateur riders.

The ruling from the BHA does not have an impact on bets placed on the race as all wagers were settled according to the official result on the day.

Laafi is the first winning horse to be disqualified from a race due to whip-related offences since last June.

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