Racing: Long ban for jockey who hit his horse 20 times

David Nolan, an apprentice jockey, was banned for 18 days yesterday after he admitted using his whip with excessive force and excessive frequency. The suspension is one of the most severe ever imposed for for whip misuse in a single ride.

Nolan was aboard Waterline Spirit in the AW Jockeys Championship Maiden Stakes at Wolverhampton on 11 November when the offences took place. At yesterday's hearing by the Jockey Club's disciplinary committee the 5lb claimer admitted that he was guilty of improper riding and in breach of Club regulations.

The committee also found that he had used his whip shortly after leaving the stalls without giving the gelding time to respond, and, in the latter stages of the race, hitting the horse when he was showing no response.

Nolan was suspended from 13 December to 7 January, on days on which Flat racing is scheduled to take place.

Explaining the ban, John Maxse, the Jockey Club's spokesman, said: "Nolan's ride was of particular concern to the committee on a number of counts but primarily because he was riding a two-year-old and because he made little or no attempt to get the best out of his horse through any other means apart from using the whip.

"The horse in question was not found to have been injured or marked but he had used his whip over 20 times in a six-furlong race when finishing unplaced," Maxse added.

The filly's trainer, David Evans, was found to have given inadequate instructions regarding Nolan's use of the whip. Evans was fined £200.

Dean Mernagh, a former top apprentice rider, was yesterday banned for 14 days, plus four days deferred, after being referred to the disciplinary committee under the totting-up rule. This followed his misuse of the whip on Supreme Salutation in the AW Trainers Championship Selling Stakes at Southwell on 20 November.

The local stewards had found Mernagh guilty of using his whip above shoulder height when his mount was out of contention. The suspension runs from 13 December to 1 January on days on which Flat racing is scheduled to take place. They also required that Mernagh attend a day's tuition on use of the whip.

At Plumpton yesterday, an amateur jockey's first ride under Jockey Club Rules resulted in a four-day ban for failing to pull up a clearly exhausted horse.

Richard Morgan-Evans's mount, Maybeseven, a nine-year-old grey, was a tailed-off last of four finishers in the three-miles-and-two-furlongs handicap chase, run in heavy ground. The track stewards said the dates of the ban would be announced later.

Kingsmark still headed the weights for the Welsh National at yesterday's forfeit stage but he is far from certain to run in the Chepstow marathon on 27 December.

The nine-year-old's main target this month is the Tommy Whittle Chase at Haydock 13 days earlier. "That's his objective but if Haydock was lost to the weather, the Welsh National is another opportunity," said owner Sir Robert Ogden's racing manager, Barry Simpson. "He's still in the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day as well."

Kingsmark was a 20-1 chance with the Tote for the Welsh National yesterday. A total of 53 horses stood their ground for the Chepstow contest, including last year's winner, Supreme Glory, and Jocks Cross, runner-up last December and the winner in 2000.

Martin Pipe still has 10 in the race while a strong Irish contingent is headed by the Hennessy Gold Cup third Harbour Pilot, and The Bunny Boiler, winner of the Midlands Grand National and the Irish Grand National last season.

* A Tote Placepot pool of £31,077 is carried forward to Wincanton today after the bet was not won outright at Plumpton yesterday. There was just one Placepot winner at the East Sussex track, who collected £2,520.70 for a 10p line. "The Plumpton dividend was the sixth biggest Placepot dividend we've had in the last five years. Given the size of the rollover to Wincanton we can well expect the pool to swell to six figures," a Tote spokesman, Jeremy Scott, said.

Welsh National (Ladbrokes ante-post odds): 7-1 Chives, 8-1 Supreme Glory, The Bunny Boiler, 10-1 Bounce Back, 14-1 Carbury Cross, Gunther McBride, Rith Dubh, 16-1 Frantic Tan, It's Himself, Kingsmark, Stormez, Streamstown, Take Control, 20-1 others.