Horse racing 's new whip rules - that include disqualifying jockeys who seriously breach guidelines - will be fully enforced at next year's Cheltenham Festival.
Cheltenham Festival, the most popular jumps meeting in the world, will observe the revised whip rules that will be rolled out early in 2023. The regulating British Horseracing Authority (BHA) announced proposed changes this summer and the implementation of the new rules has now been confirmed.
There will be a staggered introduction of the rules, which include disqualification to jockeys who strike their whip four or more times than the permitted threshold. That means that a jump jockey who uses their whip 12 or more times during a race will be disqualified. Riders are permitted to use their whip eight times in a jump race and seven times in a Flat race.
