The drivers involved in yesterday's thrilling finish to the New Zealand Trotting Cup have been fined for excessively whipping their horses in the final stages of the $800,000 race.
Winning driver Natalie Rasmussen was fined $2,500 and handed a two-week suspension for over-whipping Thefixer while Sydney's Todd McCarthy was hit with a $1,000 fine for the same offence on Tiger Tara.
Both drivers admitted to breaching rule 896(2) which stipulates the limit of use of a whip in the final 400m of a harness race is 10 times - the stewards report didn't detail how many times either driver used the whip.
Thefixer, who is trained by Rasmussen and Mark Purdon, pipped Tiger Tara by a head at Addington in Christchurch, winning his owners $415,685 in the process.
Rasmussen has been given permission to drive in Friday's Show Day meeting at Addington but will then be suspended from racing until November 30. She will miss three race meetings in the process.
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