Time to take the carrot away from jockeys who overuse the stick

Considering that we might be in for a spot of the old thermonuclear war – come on Pyongyang, not in Guineas trials week – it's hard to become too exercised about the daily minutiae, and certainly the hedges can stay untrimmed just in case Kim Jong-un does press the big red button on the ante-post market for the Nuclear Winter Derby, but certain things shouldn't be ignored.

A conversation with Sara and Mark Bradstock, for whom the outcome of the Reynoldstown Novices' Chase at Ascot in February still provokes disquiet, focused the attention on a topic that will certainly become a talking point again in the coming months.

Yet Bigbadjohn's jockey Jonathan Moore was hooked by the stewards for excessive use of the whip, having hit Bigbadjohn 14 times, well above the permitted level. Nico de Boinville, on the runner-up, stayed within the rules and was beaten.