Final Demand has been stripped of his runner-up spot in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the 2026 Cheltenham Festival, and Willie Mullins has been fined £1,100. A post-race sample showed the local anaesthetic mepivacaine in the seven-year-old’s system.
Ireland’s champion trainer admitted two breaches of the British Horseracing Authority’s medication rules, so the case was dealt with through the fast-track process, which is used when the facts are not in dispute and both sides agree the penalty. The outcome was made public on Monday 12 October.
The two breaches
Most of the penalty relates to the positive test itself. Running a horse with a prohibited substance in its system breaches Rule (K) 2.2, and Mullins was fined £1,000 for it. The second charge, under Rule (J) 24.2, was for failing to list the use of mepivacaine on the medication declaration forms submitted before the race, and that brought a further £100 fine.
Mepivacaine is a fast-acting local anaesthetic that vets use to treat horses, but it is only available on prescription. The BHA lists it as a Category B prohibited substance and publishes a detection time of 72 hours, which is the window trainers are told to allow before racing. The published ruling does not say how the substance came to be in Final Demand’s system on the day.
What it means for the Brown Advisory result
The disqualification does not change the result at the top with Mullins still the winner courtesy of Kitzbuhel, who memorably made all under Harry Cobden to win the 3m1f Grade 1 by three-quarters of a length, with Final Demand, the 7/2 second favourite, finishing a gallant second for Paul Townend.
Everyone behind him now moves up a place. Gary and Josh Moore’s Salver, a 25/1 chance who came from well back under Caoilin Quinn, is promoted to second, and Connor King’s Oscars Brother (18/1) is now third. Final Demand’s share of the prize money will be redistributed accordingly, which is a welcome windfall for some British yards in a race that went heavily Ireland’s way.
Final Demand’s season in focus
The ruling takes some of the shine off a smart first season over fences. The son of Walk In The Park, a dual Grade 1 winner over hurdles, began with a 13-length romp in a Navan beginners’ chase in November. He then made all to land the Grade 1 Faugheen Novice Chase at Limerick at 1/3 over Christmas, and at that stage looked the leading staying novice chaser in Ireland.
His jumping let him down at the Dublin Racing Festival, where he was only third of four at 30/100 behind stablemate Kaid D’Authie. He bounced back at Cheltenham, rallying to challenge Kitzbuhel up the run-in before going down by three-quarters of a length.
Final Demand has not been seen since, and his chasing record now officially reads two wins from four starts. Still only seven, he remains one to follow when he returns this winter.