LIMPLEY STOKE trainer Neil Mulholland is keen to look to the future after his controversial Wincanton winner The Young Master was disqualified from last 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, based at Conkwell Grange Stables, 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 the 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 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."