A jockey has been banned for two days for striking his horse on the head with his whip in the stalls and now faces disqualification for overusing it during the race. Diego Lima, who finished second on Ranting Duke in the first contest at York, has been heavily criticised by several pundits for his actions.
Incident at York
The 50-1 outsider was quick away from the start and remained prominent throughout the six furlongs of the Sky Bet ebfstallions.com Novice Stakes. However, Ranting Duke is expected to lose that position, with Lima facing another ban for using his whip too many times when the BHA's special committee reviews such offences next Tuesday.
Racing TV's Tom Stanley said: "It is completely unacceptable. I have lost count of how many times he has hit the horse. He is going to get thrown out." Ex-jockey and pundit Martin Dwyer added: "He is loaded into the stalls, the horse is perfectly stood still and he just hits him over the head with the thick end of his whip. The first time he does it the horse looked confused and shook his head, the second time the stalls open and he's very quick into stride. It's a bizarre thing to do."
Whip Review Committee
Ranting Duke, a horse trained in Ireland by Diego Dias, finished a length behind the winner Persian Spring (7-2jf). The channel's presenter at York, Lydia Hislop, suggested that horses should be disqualified on the day in such cases. "Well done to the stewards for picking that up," she added. "The whip review committee will be having a good look at that on Tuesday. I counted 13 (strikes) like Martin (Howard, colleague on-course)."
The BHA stewards report read: "D. D. Lima, the rider of Ranting Duke, placed second, had appeared to use his whip in an inappropriate and unacceptable way in the stalls. After being interviewed and shown recordings of the incident Lima was suspended for two days for improper riding." BHA rules state that the whip can be used a maximum of six times in a Flat race and four or more strikes above that level leads to disqualification for horse and rider.
