Horse disqualified from £200,000 race as jockey handed 30-day suspension

A horse has been disqualified from a big race after his jockey went over the whip stroke limit in a race in France.

In September last year France-Galop introduced new rules under which horses would immediately lose a race whenever a jockey struck a horse more than nine times in a race. It was brought in as a further deterrent against whip misuse alongside a reduction in the allowed number of whip strokes to four times.

On Friday Saint-Cloud hosted two major races for purebred Arabian horses, both Group 1 races worth £200,000, one for colts and another for fillies. After the first of the two was run the winning jockey Guillaume Guedi Gay was banned for eight days after striking the winner seven times.

Then following the running of the Arabian Trophy for fillies, the stewards opened an investigation into the number of whip strokes from Lukas Delozier.

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A replay of the race showed that Delozier had used his whip 10 times in the straight and the winning horse Geneva was immediately disqualified. Delozier was issued with a 30-day suspension (October 18 to November 16).

HM Al Zalmaa, who was ridden by Guedi-Gay and trained by Xavier Thomas-Demeaulte, was promoted to first place. The trainer also saddled the third, fourth and sixth.

He said: "Hm Al Zalmaa ran a very good race. She's a filly with a slight physique but she's extremely generous. After her victory at La Teste, we wanted to keep her fresh for this Group 1 PA. She gave her all on the track. She was stepping up from 1,400 metres to 2,000 metres but I had no concerns.

“Her jockey Guillaume Guedj-Gay knows her perfectly, he rides her every morning. Out of four runners, three are in the money. I'm delighted with their progress, they are among the best of their generation. It's encouraging for next year, the 4-year-old season being a good one.”

Delozier is based in Germany where he secured the biggest victory of his career last year in the German Oaks and secured his first Group 1 success on the 2021 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Torquator Tasso in 2020.