The Young Master disqualified from the Badger Ales Trophy at Wincanton

Trainer Neil Mulholland is keen to look to the future after his controversial Wincanton winner The Young Master was disqualified from Saturday's Badger Ales Trophy.

It emerged in the aftermath of what was an impressive seven-length win for the five-year-old in the prestigious handicap that the gelding was ineligible to run under the conditions of the race, having only had two previous runs over fences when three were required.

The British Horseracing Authority on Monday lodged an objection and, following a disciplinary panel hearing on Thursday morning, The Young Master was disqualified.

Mulholland was also ordered to pay a £250 fine.

In normal circumstances, if a horse is entered in a race for which he is not qualified, the trainer is informed by Weatherbys, but that was not the case on this occasion.

The Somerset-based trainer has no qualms about the disqualification, but feels aggrieved that he has taken the brunt of the blame for the incident.

Mulholland said: "I obviously had to reply to the objection when it came through at the start of the week and I agreed with it. I knew the horse was going to get disqualified and he was entitled to get disqualified.

"The only problem I have with it is that Weatherbys have accepted their computer system failed, but there was nobody from Weatherbys at the hearing today and I'm being painted as the bad guy.

"There were 1,500 horses last year that were entered in races they weren't qualified for. Unfortunately this one has slipped through the net.

"There were 32 entries for the last race at Cheltenham tomorrow and two of them weren't qualified. Do you really think if Weatherbys hadn't let their trainers know they weren't qualified to run they wouldn't have declared?

"Weatherbys changed their systems in September and changes are now going to be made again after what's happened. Mr Weatherby himself rang the horse's owner to apologise and they are obviously going to reimburse his entry fees.

"I just want to move on from the whole thing now and the good thing is we have a horse good enough to win a race like that (Badger Ales), which is fantastic."

Not only has The Young Master been disqualified, but the BHA have confirmed his run will be taken into account by the handicapper and he has been raised 14lb.

Mulholland did have the opportunity to run his charge under a 7lb penalty in Friday's Opus Energy Amateur Riders' Handicap Chase at Cheltenham, but decided against turning him out quickly.

"He came out of the race unbelievably well. I rode him myself on Monday morning and he was probably the freshest horse in the yard," said Mulholland.

"He feels like he's getting better all the time and if he keeps improving, he's not going to be a handicapper for long. He'll be running in the better novice races.

"I didn't declare him for the race on Friday as I thought it was the wrong thing to do for the horse and for the sport.

"The people at the BHA said I should run him because we know he's going to be disqualified from the Wincanton race and go up a lot in the weights, but I have to put my horse first and you can imagine what the reaction would have been if we had run him at Cheltenham and something went wrong.

"Everyone would have been questioning why I was running the horse again so quickly and the whole thing has had enough bad publicity as it is."

Mulholland is keen to let the dust settle before making future plans for his exciting chaser.

He said: "I don't know where we'll go with him next. I just wanted to get today out of the way and now we can move on.

"Hopefully there's a lot to look forward to."

The BHA's director of racing Ruth Quinn admits the decision to reassess The Young Master's mark despite his disqualification will be viewed as a "hard line" by some, but she believes it is the right call in the interests of the sport.

She said: "Once it had been ascertained that the horse was not qualified to run in the race it was a straightforward matter that the horse should be disqualified.

"Any other course of action would have been contrary to the Rules and patently unfair to connections of the other runners in the race.

"It also then followed that Neil Mulholland had to be found in breach of the Rules as they are very clear that it is the trainer's responsibility to ensure that a horse is qualified to run in any race.

"However, it is also evident that there were other issues at play here. Weatherbys has an IT system which is designed to alert trainers when they have entered a horse that is not qualified.

"While this does not override the trainer's responsibility under the Rules, it is a service which BHA, via Weatherbys, provides to the industry and it is clear that that service did not work as it should on this occasion.

"Not only is this a service designed to assist trainers, but it is also part of our collective responsibility to connections of horses and punters to ensure that incidents such as this do not occur. The outcome of Saturday's race is simply not satisfactory for the betting public.

"We are satisfied with the explanation provided by Weatherbys and that the coding error on the administration system has now been fixed. It is important that such an incident does not occur again. We also support Weatherbys' decision to compensate the owner for the cost of their entry fee and race day expenses.

"Separately BHA has made a decision to reassess The Young Master's handicap mark based on the evidence of the Badger Ales Trophy. We have a duty to the sport as a whole, including punters and other horsemen, and that duty is not played out by not taking account of the form from Saturday's race.

"We appreciate that this may be seen as a hard line by some, but we are confident that in the best interests of the sport it is the correct decision. It is borne out by other precedents of horses being disqualified - for example for taking the wrong course - then being reassessed off the back of these performances.

"All of the issues outlined here were available to the Disciplinary Panel for consideration and potential mitigation in determining the penalty imposed on Neil Mulholland."

There was some consolation for Mulholland when his winning run continued in the Winning Post Real Ale Handicap Hurdle at Taunton on Thursday.

Mulholland's runner Johns Luck (7-2) was cantering from some way out and just had to be nudged out three-quarters of a length ahead of 3-1 favourite Unefille De Guye.