Have you ever seen a jockey steal

[brockguy]

another jockey's whip mid race and then go on to win the race? It happened at Cheltenham on Friday in an amateur riders hurdle and in England, there is nothing in the rules banning stealing another jockey's whip, but the British stewards, wanted to look like were doing something, banned him for 2 days for "improper riding". I thought it was a case of very proper riding, giving his horse the best opportunity to win.

If I find the video, Ill post it.

story from sporting life:

Cheltenham's opening race of the Open meeting ended in controversy after Hoopy had beaten Alexanderthregreat.

Connections of the runner-up objected to the winner after his rider Jason McKeown lost his whip and then took the one belonging to King Harald's rider Donal Devereux.

The incident happened before the third-last as the race for the Irish Times Amateur Riders' Handicap Chase hotted up.

King Harald was fading out of contention after being up with the pace, while Hoopy was beginning to make his challenge.

Hoopy (15-2), trained in Ireland by Gordon Elliott, stayed on strongly to beat the always-prominent Alexanderthegreat and Ian Chanin by three and a half lengths.

The placings, however, remained unaltered.

McKeown said: "I lost my irons and dropped my stick when he made a mistake.

"I think the other guy (Devereux) was a bit gobsmacked when I took it at the top of the hill and once I gave the horse one or two smacks, it got him going again and he came back on the bridle and started to travel.

"They were going too fast early on, but his jumping got better when I got him to the rear of the field."

Hoopy's win came at a cost to McKeown, who was suspended two days for improper riding.

McKeown added: "I didn't cause any inconvenience and I didn't try to knock anybody over - I just borrowed the stick for a while.

"He gave the stick to me and I'd have done the same in his position."

Devereux said: "He (McKeown) needed the stick so I gave it to him.

"I was going nowhere and was going to pull up."

Venetia Williams, trainer of runner-up Alexanderthegreat, said: "Ian said to me that the winning jockey had dropped his stick and that if we objected, we would get the race.

"Something like this should not be down to opinion - there should be a rule about what happened if you drop your stick and whether you can take someone else's stick."

Stipendiary steward Simon Westropp explained: "There was no provision under the rules to cover him taking the whip, but we thought it fair to hear the objection from the owner of the second-placed horse.

"We thought the general covering of the improper riding rule would let us deal with it, but we didn't feel there were grounds to punish Mr Devereux for letting him take it (the whip)."