An amateur jockey who surpassed the whip stroke threshold by five has been slapped with a 20-day suspension and his horse stripped of its placing. Sam Burton, a seven-pound claiming amateur who began racing under rules a decade ago, stepped away from riding for four years following the Covid pandemic.

He returned to action during the present season and notched his maiden victory in a mares’ handicap chase for trainer Sam Drinkwater at Huntingdon in May. Burton was taking his ninth mount of the campaign when he rode Dadavic in a point-to-point bumper maiden National Hunt Flat race at Exeter on Sunday.

The 11-2 shot seized the lead with two furlongs remaining but veered to his right and was overtaken near the line where he was edged out in a photo-finish for top spot by a short head to Call Me Ken.

The stewards launched an inquiry to examine the interference which occurred a furlong out and delivered a caution to Burton for careless riding as he permitted his mount to drift right-handed when insufficiently clear, forcing winning rider Carys Morris to have to switch her mount left-handed.

The officials also referred Burton to the BHA’s Whip Review Committee for a potential breach of the whip rules. That panel determined that Burton had deployed his whip five times above the permitted level of seven, from turning into the home straight.

“Taking into account that none of the uses were clearly and unequivocally for safety purposes, Dadavic was disqualified,” the ruling said. Burton received a 20-day suspension when amateur races are scheduled. The ban commences on April 7 with the final day to be served on June 6. On one of the dates he will undergo specialised coaching.

The BHA introduced new whip limit regulations following a report in 2022, restricting Flat jockeys to a maximum of six strokes and jump jockeys to seven.

Suspensions are handed out for violations with horses disqualified when the whip is used four times or more above the permitted level. Last year My Dream World became only the fourth winning horse to be disqualified for a whip breach, since the rules were enforced, after crossing the line first in the Queen Mother’s Cup for female amateurs at York.