Andrews admits to 'win-at-all-cost ride' following suspension

Gina Andrews has admitted to having had a win-at-all-cost mentality when claiming the Cheltenham Festival victory that earned her a 13-day whip ban.

Andrews was found guilty of hitting Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup winner Domesday Book too often and not giving the 40-1 shot sufficient time to respond. Following the pair's hard-fought three-quarter length success the leading amateur was also fined £400.

Charlie Longsdon, trainer of runner-up Pendra, admitted on Saturday: "If I was a jockey I'd break the rules to win a race at Cheltenham."

Giving her own reaction, Andrews said: "I wasn't thinking to myself: 'God, I'm breaking the rules, but I don't care'.

"I was doing everything I could to win. For an amateur, winning at the festival is massive. To be honest, you do win-at-all-cost a lot of the time. When I pulled up I knew I'd used my whip too much but not as much as I had. It's a heat of the moment thing."

The 25-year-old added: "I know I'm an amateur but I ride enough to know better. Even so, I feel the number of days I got was harsh, considering I think I had previously only offended once through my whole career, when I won the big hunter chase at Stratford. I do feel hard done by but I broke the rules and have to suffer the consequences.

"I'm only banned on days when there's an amateurs' race, which means my ban is very drawn out and runs all the way until April 18.

"It impacts on me quite a bit because it means I can't ride in point-to-points on the days when there's an amateurs' race under Rules. I miss three weekends of pointing, which is quite a big deal to me as I'm chasing the championship."