Talking horses: Jim Crowley could face expensive penalty after Hukum joy

The BHA’s whip review committee may hit winning jockey with a 20-day ban and a £10,000 fine as the sanction debate continues

TITANIC BATTLE: Hukum and Jim Crowley, right, get the better of Westover and Rob Hornby in Saturday's King George at Ascot. However, if Crowley is banned for the ride he gave Hukum, he will miss the Ebor meeting at York in three weeks’ time. Picture: Healy Racing

What 99.9% of fans and professionals alike saw at Ascot on Saturday was a thrilling and compelling duel to the line in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Jim Crowley and Hukum edged past Westover in a contest that deserves to be remembered as one of the best in a storied race’s long history. 

What the members of the British Horseracing Authority's (BHA’s) whip review committee are likely to see when they study the replay at their weekly meeting on Tuesday, however, is Crowley using his whip at least eight, and possibly nine, times on the way to victory.