Paul Nicholls fears he may lose the services of one of his key riders for the Cheltenham Festival after he revealed that Lorcan Williams breached the new whip rules at the weekend.
The 23-year-old Williams rode his 19th winner of the campaign on the Nicholls-trained Makin'yourmindup in a Grade 2 novices' hurdle at Haydock on Saturday, winning the race by a short head.
He has told Nicholls that he could receive a 16-day ban, when the Whip Review Committee meets, for his use of the whip under the revised penalty structure which came into force last week.
