THE British Horseracing Authority's Whip Review Committee has ordered the disqualification of Laafi from first place in the closing race at Aintree last Friday.

Owned and trained by Bill Durkan, Laafi won the Debenhams Handicap Hurdle (for conditional jockeys and amateur riders) by a neck. However, it was observed that winning rider Paddy O'Brien had appeared to use his whip 11 times, four more than the maximum number of strikes permitted in a jumps race. Under rules introduced in 2023, the Whip Review Committee - which convenes every Tuesday to review relevant cases from the previous week - is obliged to disqualify horses whose riders have used the whip four or more times more than permitted in a race.

The official Whip Review Committee report into the race stated: "Taking into account that none of the uses were clearly and unequivocally for safety purposes, Laafi 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 the permitted level was doubled. O'Brien will be suspended for 28 days."

The jockey's ban starts on May 2nd and runs until June 4th, but only includes days on which there is National Hunt racing in Britain.

Laafi is the fifth winner to be disqualified under the new whip rules in the past three years and the first winner to be disqualified since last June.

The Aintree race has been awarded to Melon, trained by Oliver Greenann and Josh Guerriero, and ridden by Toby McCain Mitchell, who himself was found to have used his whip twice above the permitted level and has been referred to the BHA's Judicial Panel as this was his fourth whip offence within six months.