![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\nA heavy-handed James McDonald will spend time on the sidelines after being suspended and fined a cool $20,000 for excessive whip use at Royal Randwick on Saturday.<\/p>\n
McDonald copped a 10-day ban after pleading guilty to the overuse of the whip rule in the $2m Inglis Millennium.<\/p>\n
McDonald admitted to stewards he struck his winning mount Fireball nine times, four more than permitted, prior to the last 100m of the race and 20 times in total.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stewards told the champion rider they used a suspension handed to Damian Lane earlier this year \u201cas a precedent\u201d for \u201can almost identical breach\u201d.<\/p>\n
Lane was also suspended for 10 days for striking Treasurethe Moment 10 times prior to the 100m and 20 times in total but his fine was $10,000 less than McDonald\u2019s as the race offered a $1m purse.<\/p>\n
A frustrated McDonald was \u201csurprised\u201d and \u201cdisappointed\u201d at the size of the penalty, questioning why a somewhat minor whip breach induced a heavier penalty than one which could impact the safety of a horse and rider.<\/p>\n
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 07: James McDonald riding Fireball win Race 7 Inglis Millennium during Sydney Racing at Royal Randwick Racecourse on February 07, 2026 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jeremy Ng\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just seems, a careless riding charge gets less days and that\u2019s the welfare of a participant and then you whack this, a significant fine as well as 10 days at this time of year for the welfare of a horse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody can clip a heel and not get 10 days, and that\u2019s the welfare of a human.\u201d<\/p>\n
McDonald will commence his suspension on Sunday, February 15 and will miss the Hobartville Stakes and Silver Slipper meeting at Rosehill Gardens on February 21.<\/p>\n
He returns to the saddle on Wednesday, February 25.<\/p>\n
McDonald was last suspended for a whip infringement in November 2024 during the Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington.<\/p>\n
The decision to launch the suspension next Sunday allows the champion hoop to partner unbeaten mare Autumn Glow in next Saturday\u2019s Group 2 Apollo Stakes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A heavy-handed James McDonald will spend time on the sidelines after being suspended and fined a cool $20,000…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,689,238975,238982,155544,76758,238980,238979,138317,673,677,238978,238974,85,670,238976,238981,238977],"class_list":{"0":"post-467337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","11":"tag-careless-riding-charge","12":"tag-clinton-payne","13":"tag-crazy-comeback","14":"tag-damian-lane","15":"tag-excessive-whip","16":"tag-incredible-final","17":"tag-james-mcdonald","18":"tag-new-south-wales","19":"tag-oceania","20":"tag-outsider-winracing","21":"tag-riding-fireball-win","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-sydney","24":"tag-whip-breach","25":"tag-whip-infringement","26":"tag-whip-rule"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}