2019 Melbourne Cup: Kiwi jockey Michael Walker banned and fined $10,000 for excessive use of whip during race

Michael Walker has been fined and banned for excessive use of the whip on Prince of Arran. Photo / Getty Images

Kiwi Melbourne Cup runner-up jockey Michael Walker has been suspended for excessive use of the whip during the race that stopped the nation.

Walker's Prince of Arran was promoted from third to second in the final finishing order after Master of Reality's protest was upheld.

However, Walker's celebrations were soured somewhat when a Racing Victoria stewards hearing found him guilty of excessive whipping.

He has been handed a seven-meeting ban and a $10,000 fine, which cuts into his prize money of around $50,000 for piloting the second horse in the Cup.

Stewards found he applied the whip 12 times before the final 100m – far exceeding the five whips allowed.

He admitted he was guilty at the start of the hearing.

"I broke the rules that we have in place," he said.

"I'm not one that generally breaks the rules with regards to whip.

"It's the Melbourne Cup. I was just throwing everything to see if I could win the race. It's not like it was a maiden at Echuca. It's the Melbourne Cup."

Earlier, stewards found jockey Frankie Dettori guilty of blocking stablemate Il Paradiso in the run to the line, dumping the second place-finisher back to fourth.

The stewards protest was upheld despite a bizarre twist at the hearing held after Vow And Declare's famous win.

Both Dettori and Il Paradiso's jockey Wayne Lordan refused to give evidence that would result in Master of Reality being penalised.

But that didn't save Dettori and after reviewing race footage, stewards needed little time to rule he had infringed on Il Paradiso.

Racing Victoria announced after the stewards meeting that Master of Reality had officially been relegated to finish fourth, while third-place finisher Prince of Arran was promoted to second and Il Paradiso officially finished third.

The protest has cost the connections of Master of Reality a whopping $750,000, dropping the ownership group from the $1.1m prize for second-place to the $350,000 prize for fourth.

More than an hour later it was announced Dettori had been smashed with a nine-meeting suspension that will follow him back to racing in Japan.

Lordan insisted during the hearing his horse wasn't impeded, but it wasn't enough to save Dettori.