Charlie Deutsch to miss first two days of Aintree for breaching whip rules at Cheltenham - plus top Flat rider to miss the Lincoln

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Charlie Deutsch will miss the opening two days of next month’s Grand National meeting after being banned and fined for using his whip above the permitted level when winning the Grand Annual Chase on Martator.

Deutsch, 29, was found to have used his whip nine times, two more than allowed, from the final fence to the finish with the seven-day ban doubled to 14 days due to the class of the race. In addition, the rider was fined £1,550.

Martator held on to win the Grand Annual Chase on Wednesday by a short head from last year’s winner Jazzy Matty. However, Deutsch will now be sidelined from March 27 - April 2 inclusive, and April 4 - April 10 inclusive. This year’s Grand National meeting starts on April 9.

Two other jockeys received whip suspensions for their rides on the opening two days of this week’s Cheltenham Festival in the latest whip review committee findings.

Conor Stone-Walsh, who partnered Final Orders to land the Cross Country Chase, was suspended for eight days (March 27 - April 2 inclusive) for using his whip once above the permitted level when finishing third in the Grand Annual Chase on Break My Soul.

Caoilin Quinn also used the whip once above the permitted level when claiming third place on Salver in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase on Wednesday.

Caoilin Quinn: breached the whip rules on Salver in the Brown AdvisoryCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

However, the rider’s ban was reduced from eight days to four days (March 27-30 inclusive) by the committee as the jockey had taken more than 150 rides in Britain since his previous whip breach.

Away from the Cheltenham Festival, champion Flat jockey Oisin Murphy triggered a five-day deferred whip penalty when going once above the permitted level of strokes when riding Caliban to victory at Southwell on Tuesday.

Murphy had received the five-day suspended penalty after being referred to the committee under the totting up rules in November. His eight-day ban (March 24-31 inclusive) will rule him out of the Flat turf season’s opening fixture, the William Hill Lincoln meeting, at Doncaster on March 28.

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