British horse racing chiefs yesterday announced tough new rules governing the use of whips by jockeys.

The British Racing Authority (BHA) have been conducting a review of the rules governing whip use for the past 10 months, during which discussions were held on an outright whip ban.

The BHA refrained from such a measure but said that jockeys will be further restricted as to how many times they can use the whip in a race. Riders will also face steeper punishments if found guilty of using the whip with excessive frequency.

The BHA said: “The whip can only be used a maximum of seven times in a flat race, and eight times in a jumps race (and only five times in the last furlong/after the last obstacle). This is roughly half the amount of times a whip could be used previously before being in breach of the rules of racing.”