There will be an educational and transitional period from Mar. 1 to Apr. 30 to allow jockeys to acclimate to the new regulations. The sanctions currently in place regarding overuse of the whip will be applied through Apr. 30. The aim is to gradually reduce the use of the whip, and the system will be reviewed at the end of 2023.

The following are specifications that apply to the manner and the number of times a whip can be used:

• Using the whip on the shoulder or neck of the horse when the jockey does not have both hands on the reins counts towards the permitted number of strikes.
• It is at the discretion of the stewards to decide if a jockey has used his/her whip clearly and unequivocally for safety reasons (correcting the horse's trajectory) rather than misused it.
• The stewards will consider it a misuse offence (according to article 171 of the Racing Code) when a jockey uses his/her whip one or more times even though his/her mount was no longer able to improve or was out of contention (it is a misuse even if the jockey has used his/her whip below the authorised number).
• Using the whip above shoulder height is considered a misuse offence.

Increased penalties will come into effect on May 1, as well, with specific penalties applying to group races. For the full details regarding penalties for whip offences after the new rules come into effect, and for more information on the new rules, please go to the France Galop website.

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The extension, requested by jockeys and the PJA, was granted on account of the number of cancelled fixtures last week due to the frozen ground. The full implementation of the new rules for Jumps racing will begin on Feb. 13. The start of the bedding-in period for Flat racing remains Feb. 27, as does the Mar. 27 full implementation date for Flat racing.

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“It's very frustrating for me and for everybody, a lot of these trainers have come a long way,” French Champion Jumps Jockey James Reveley told Sky Sports Racing.

“We don't really know when they're going to run the meeting or whether it's going to be later on in the week, but it requires so much organisation and it's just really frustrating.

“You get used to it and in fairness I've been over here a while and you just have to deal with it, it's a shame as there's other ways of making things happen.

“I heard they're wanting a 4%, I don't know if that's true but it is hard for people to make ends meet, I suppose, with inflation at the moment.

“Today was a big day with horses having their prep races for the big weekend, the top 4-year-old chase was today and they won't want to put it too far back or too close to the big meeting.”

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Brian Hughes, who became only the fourth NH jockey to ride a double century of winners in a season, was named the UK Champion Jumps Jockey for a second time. His win total sits at 204, 99 ahead of Sam Twiston-Davies in second.

Hughes, who won the title in 2019/20 said, “It is something at the start of the season I set out to try and do and it is great that it has come. I've never thought it was signed and sealed and I never wanted to let any sort of complacency set in. I just wanted to keep my head down and keep doing what I have done all season, so I haven't ever accepted that it was happening until it did.”

The Champion Conditional Jockey was Kevin Brogan. Trainer Paul Nicholls and owner JP McManus were once again awarded year-end titles by earnings-their 13th and 15th, respectively.

“It's been tougher [to win the big races] this year but every year is tough. In recent years I've either been neck and neck with Willie [Mullins] or Nicky, but this year it's a bit more relaxed and I can enjoy the day,” said Nicholls.

“I knew we were going to be quiet at Cheltenham but we had a good Aintree with some nice winners there and the horses are flying again now.

“I might have turned 60 recently, but there are absolutely no thoughts from me about retiring. I love what I'm doing and as long as I'm fit and healthy, I've no plans to cut back–I love it.”

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CNN will cover the race for its flagship World Sport programme, while magazine Trans World Sport will provide added exposure. Reuters will provide international coverage of the race, as well. ITV will provide coverage of the race via BFBS, which provides media services to the UK Armed Forces.

Dickon White, The Jockey Club's Regional Director for the North West, said, “The Randox Grand National is the biggest Jumps race in the world, if not the biggest race in the world, and merits a truly worldwide TV audience–which I'm delighted to say is exactly what we've got. I hope our extensive list of broadcasters, both new and old to the event, enjoy one of the great sporting spectacles.”

Among the list of TV broadcasters are:

• Broadcasters in North and South America, plus the Caribbean: TVG, NYRA (US); Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, HPI (Canada); ESPN Star+ (50 countries in Latin America, Caribbean) and SportsMax (32 countries in Caribbean).
• Africa, MENA and Sub-Continent: SuperSport (48 countries in Africa), Racing 240 (16 countries in Southern Africa), Dubai Racing Channel, Yas TV (both 17 countries in MENA), Sony Pictures Network (India)
• Asia Pacific: Sky Thoroughbred Central (Australia), Trackside (New Zealand), Green Channel (Japan, highlights), Wasu.TV (China, highlights)
• European broadcasters: ITV (UK); Racing TV (UK, Republic of Ireland); Virgin Media 1 (Republic of Ireland); Equidia (France); SilkNet (Georgia); NENT (Scandinavia), Polsat (Poland), Setanta (Baltics and Eurasia), SSport (Turkey)
• RMG's own TV channel, Racing TV, will also show the race in 10,000 pubs and clubs in the UK and Ireland.

Radio listeners will enjoy live coverage in the UK courtesy of BBC Radio 5 Live and talkSPORT, while Racing TV Radio, which syndicates audio on behalf of Aintree Racecourse, will distribute to regional, national and international news stations.

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“TfRI was delighted to support the second industry forum since its launch, following the Australian forum last April,” said Anna Powell, TfRI Development Director. “Uniting key stakeholders to identify common goals, creating ambassadors and to develop a clear plan is an important step in improving recruitment and retention. Workforce and careers was one of the common challenges identified at the global forum hosted under the auspices of Godolphin in November 2019, along with Education and Community Engagement, which led to the creation of Together for Racing International. TfRI is a central resource leveraging expertise and funding to support its member countries around the people agenda. This work is done using the global network to share progress, analyse and communicate the global impact of this work to support the sustainability of our sport.”

Guillaume Herrnberger, director of employment and training in charge of AFASEC declared, “It was an exciting and enriching day. We are all on the same page thanks to the IFCE, before being inspired by the experiences of Pierre, Antoine, Thibault and Alexis, and TfRI before finally acting. In one day the racing and breeding stakeholders found solutions together. It is now up to all of us to implement them, everyone at their level. We are now 70 ambassadors around employment, it is up to us to bring change around us to become 700, 7000…. From today we are all at the heart of change in support of our teams.”

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Managing Director of ARC's Racing Division, Mark Spincer, said, “We are pleased to confirm our specific prize money investment plans for programme book one 2022 as part of the overall announcements that we made in October.

“Our flat programme throughout this time will continue to run above minimum values, and we very much look forward to introducing the new bonus for Class 5 and 6 divided races from January, alongside free entry for flat owners during February and March.  Equally, we hope that the reshaping of Good Friday, with the All-Weather Vase fixture at Lingfield Park, will give more horses an end of season target, and an excellent day out for connections.”

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The heavy favorite watched on as Willie Mullins' Stormy Island did all the early running, but the unbeaten Champion Hurdler and queen of National Hunt racing had it sewn up by the third last.

After claiming the BARONERACING.COM Hatton's Grace Hurdle, De Bromhead said: “I'm delighted with that, Rachael was brilliant on her and they are just a lethal combination, in fairness to them.

“She was really psyched before the race, she was trying to bite and kick and the only one who was getting away with it was me, actually.

“She probably gave me a fright last year so we might have done a little bit more this year for it, but when you've only so many runs – with a lot of mine I'd let them progress, but she was pretty straight.

“She's an incredible mare and to be associated with her is amazing. The reception she's got from everyone here is incredible.

“I'm at the stage now where I tell myself 'she's going to get beaten this time'. I'm nervous before she runs but we're so lucky to have her as well. I had convinced myself all week that she was going to get beaten.”

Honeysuckle is back

The unbeaten mare picks up from where she left off last season, coasting clear in the Grade 1 https://t.co/PFQ0jhDODV Hatton's Grace Hurdle in the hands of @rachaelblackmor for @HenrydeBromhead at @Fairyhouse pic.twitter.com/ybiWMXGavO

— Horse Racing Ireland (@HRIRacing) November 28, 2021

Honeysuckle made it a magnificent seven out of seven wins in races at Fairyhouse and De Bromhead indicated she would be heading for the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown next.

He added: “I think it will be the Irish Champion Hurdle next, touch wood she'll be OK. That route has worked before so we can back off her for a few weeks now, we haven't really discussed anything after today.

“It's fantastic to have [owner] Kenny (Alexander) and his family over today and it's amazing.”

De Bromhead lauded “brilliant” Blackmore for not letting Stormy Ireland get too far out ahead after Mullins' horse bolted to the front of the field virtually from the off.

The win came as Honeysuckle stepped back up in trip having not raced over 2m4f since winning this contest last year, and De Bromhead reiterated just how lucky he feels to have her under his command.

He added: “We have run her on quicker ground, in her maiden hurdle, but it was safe today.

“They were racing from a long way out. Stormy Ireland went a right gallop and we saw at Punchestown last year, you wouldn't want her getting too far in front but Rachael was aware.

“She (Stormy Ireland) stopped quite quickly, so then I was looking for the dangers behind. I just have to try to remember how brilliant Rachael is and try not to worry as much. How lucky are we to be associated with her.”

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This Saturday's stop, at Great Meadow Race Course in The Plains, has drawn 66 entries for eight races. Fans attending the races will be able to bet on their favorites as the meet will offer on-site pari-mutuel wagering. Overall, $305,000 in purses are up for grabs; that's a significant boost vs. the $230,000 offered at last year's event, which was severely impacted by Covid-19. And if the voice of the announcer calling the races at Great Meadow sounds familiar, you've got a good ear. Larry Collmus, the voice of the Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup will be handling the duties once again, as he did at Far Hills last week.

Six of Saturday's races will be run over hurdles, all at 2 ⅛ miles, the headliner being the Grade 2 $75,000 David L. “Zeke” Ferguson Stakes. The $25,000 maiden hurdle, the first race of the day, drew so many entries that it was split into two divisions. Besides the stake and maiden contests, other hurdle events include an allowance event for non-winners of two; a maiden claimer; and an optional claiming handicap for horses rated at 120 or less. The eponymous International Gold Cup timber stakes, contested at 3 ½ miles for a purse of $75,000, has drawn a field of five, four of whom are stakes winners. Five horses were entered in the $30,000 Steeplethon Stakes over mixed obstacles, including Armata Stable's New Member and Silverton Hill's Bodes Well, who ran a thrilling one-two at a similar event at the Virginia Fall Races in Middleburg two weeks ago.

In the Gold Cup, Hall of Famer Jack Fisher saddles Storm Team for his mother-in-law, Sheila Williams, and Northwoods Stable, and Schoodic, who runs in the colors of Jack's mom, Dolly Fisher. Storm Team, an accomplished seven-year-old son of Candy Ride who has earned more than a quarter-million dollars in his career, comes into the race off of his first timber stakes score, in the National Sporting Library & Museum Cup two weeks ago at Middleburg, where he defeated Leipers Fork Steeplechasers' Tomgarrow by five lengths. Since switching to timber, Tomgarrow, who is trained by leading conditioner Leslie Young, has a maiden victory and four straight seconds. He was the runner up in May's Virginia Gold Cup, also at Great Meadow. The Gold Cup winner that day, Schoodic, is a multiple stakes winner of nearly a half-million dollars. He's seven for 12 with three seconds over timber, and captured the International Gold Cup in 2019. He was beaten a head on Oct. 9 by arch rival Mystic Strike in the Genesee Valley Hunt Cup. Rounding out the field are Kiplin Hall's Renegade River, winner of the Willowdale Steeplechase in April, and Frank Bonsal's Stand Down, winner of the 2018 Pennsylvania Hunt Cup. Both Renegade River and Stand Down ran against Storm Team at Middleburg, but proved no match.

In the Ferguson, six horses will face starter Graham Alcott, led by Hudson River Farm's stakes winner Iranistan, coming off a layoff of more than a year following two straight handicap triumphs at Saratoga in 2020. Iranistan prepped for the Ferguson with a win on the flat at Shawan Downs in September. Sharon Sheppard's Redicean, a novice stakes winner who has also hit the board multiple times in Grade 1 competition, recently finished far back in third to powerhouses The Mean Queen and Snap Decision in the Lonesome Glory at Belmont Park.

Owner Irv Naylor sends out Bedrock, who finished third, beaten less than a half length, in the David Semmes Memorial Stakes over the Great Meadow course in May. Sempre Medici, who used be in the Naylor Stable but now runs for Straylight Racing, steps up to stakes competition for the first time in two years. Gill Johnston's Brianbakescookies took the Queens Cup novice stakes in Mineral Springs, N.C., in April, but has struggled in two starts in open stakes competition since then.

Completing the field is Chosen Mate, who came to the U.S. to run in last Saturday's American Grand National at Far Hills for then-owner Meadow Run Farm and Irish trainer Gordon Elliott. A distant fourth at Far Hills to The Mean Queen and Snap Decision, Chosen Mate, a winner at Cheltenham in 2020, returns in the colors of Armata Stable and new trainer Ricky Hendriks.

For all the entries, click here.

Post time for the races is 12:30 p.m., and you can watch via live stream from the NSA website. The live stream is sponsored by Brown Advisory, the Temple Gwathmey Steeplechase Foundation, Charleston's Post & Courier, and the Virginia Equine Alliance.

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The 150-1 outsider Freewheelin Dylan was considered nothing more than an also-ran heading into Monday's main event, with all eyes on Bryan Cooper on Latest Exhibition and Run Wild Fred under Jack Kennedy before the race kicked off.

But the rest of the field were left 'Blowin' in the Wind' as the longer the race went on, with Doyle holding his nerve to steer the rank outsider to success on the highest stage.

What a result!

150/1 shot FREEWHEELIN DYLAN winner of the 2021 @Boylesports Irish Grand National yesterday#BoyleSportsIGN pic.twitter.com/rDYnkxkcRf

— FairyhouseRacecourse (@Fairyhouse) April 6, 2021

With just seven victories in a four-year career before the Easter Monday meet, very few knew much about the Dermot McLoughlin's steed heading into the main event, but the 47-year-old was the coolest man in the house as his colt turned the final corner in front.

“I was fairly relaxed about it to be honest, I was enjoying it up there because it was nice to see a horse jump fences like that, it was great,” McLoughlin said.

“I said to the lads we better start cheering turning into the straight, because I knew he'd stay going.

“I said to Ricky get him up front, and jumping is his forte so use him up, I was a bit concerned abut not getting the run but it went to plan.”

The Irish Grand National is an event that the McLoughlin household has long since left a legacy on, with Dermot's father Liam claiming success on Tom Dreaper-trained Kerforo back in 1962.

And over half a century later it was his son watching on from the sidelines as Doyle kept the field at bay to produce the biggest upset in the showpiece event in living history – and McLoughlin was pleased to do his father proud with the win.

“It was 59 years ago that he won it, and this was the race I always wanted to win because I always wanted to follow in his footsteps.”

In the day's other action, Donagh Meyler got the first win of the day at Fairyhouse, as he marauded his way to the front of the pack to take the spoil in the Farmhouse Foods Novice Handicap Hurdle on top of Shanroe.

Keith Donohue set the pace early on with You Say Nothing, but the six-year-old was unable to keep the lead heading into the final stages, with Karl Thornton's stable star romping to an early success in Monday's action.

Sean Flanagan and Jeff Kidder did it again in the Rathbarry & Glenview Studs Juvenile Hurdle, with the duo adding to their 80-1 Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle win at Cheltenham with another scintillating win over heavy favourite Teahupoo.

All eyes are heading towards Punchestown at the end of the month for Noel Meade's star performer, with the trainer reaping the rewards after using him sparingly since the Boxing Day meet at Leopardstown.

“We gave him a break over Christmas but I was actually worried to leave him off too long, but it's worked out perfect,” Meade said.

“He seemed very weak last season as a three-year-old, but he seems to be getting stronger.

“If he never does anymore he's done a lot, but I can't see any reason why he wouldn't go to Punchestown now.”

There were also wins for Denis O'Regan's ride Max Flamingo in the Fairyhouse Steel Handicap Hurdle, as well as Willie Mullins' Stormy Ireland in the Underwriting Exchange Hurdle.

It was a quick-fire double for Mullins in the middle stretch of the day, as Brain Hayes stormed to victory on Easy Game in the Devenish Chase, before Uisce Beatha took victory in the last race of the day under Simon Torrens.

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