Walsh back in UK after whip ban row

Ruby Walsh makes his first return to racing in Britain for one mount at Wetherby this afternoon, since being suspended under the new whip rules at Aintree.

Walsh was suspended for five days by the Aintree stewards on Saturday having been deemed to have hit his mount, Edgardo Sol, once more than the permitted eight times after guiding him to a narrow victory in a novices’ handicap chase.

A furious Walsh said that his visits to Britain would become less frequent due to the new rules, and he is due to have an appeal against the findings of the Aintree stewards heard next week.

But he will be back in the saddle when he partners Fistral Beach for Paul Nicholls in Wetherby’s bet365 Handicap Chase, and will also be in action at the West Yorkshire track tomorrow, where his rides will include the Nicholls-trained Poquelin in the feature Bet365 Charlie Hall Chase.

Poquelin’s owner, Andy Stewart, currently in Barbados, said: “I understand Ruby will ride Poquelin, which is great. The Charlie Hall should be one of the highlights of the day on Saturday and, hopefully, it will give everyone something to talk about rather than the whip.

“I haven’t actually seen the race when Ruby got suspended in at Aintree, but I have been told plenty about it.

“One of the main problems with the rule is that it does not leave any room for discretion for the stewards.

“You can give a horse a peach of a ride and get up by a nose and get suspended for it and that can’t be right.”

Meanwhile, at a British Horseracing Authority disciplinary hearing yesterday, owner-rider Paul McMahon was given a 21-day suspension from 2 to 22 November inclusive.

Amateur McMahon was referred to the BHA after breaching the new whip regulations when winning a bumper at Cheltenham on 15 October on his own horse, Clondaw Warrior, trained by John Hanlon.

The panel found McMahon had used the whip 17 times.