Grand National Festival winner disqualified and jockey issued ban after major rule break

Laafi has been disqualified after winning the Debenhams Handicap Hurdle at Aintree last Friday (PA)

Grand National Festival winner Laafi has been disqualified and jockey Patrick O’Brien has been banned for breaking rules around the use of a whip.

The six-year-old horse was a 20-1 winner of the Debenhams Handicap Hurdle at Aintree last Friday.

However, the British Horseracing Authority’s (BHA) whip review committee concluded that O’Brien had used his whip 11 tim...