Those of us who reckon Tony Martin was due a change of luck and indeed the man himself finally got a ball to break in the right direction. With today’s news that the decision to strip Alphonse Le Grande of the Cesarewitch Handicap was overturned on appeal earlier this week.
The progressive handicapper was first past the post in Newmarket’s end of season highlight but was subsequently demoted after apprentice jockey Jamie Powell was found to have contravened Britain’s ridiculously stringent parametres governing use of the stick. To add insult to injury, the burgeoning young rider received a hideous 28 day ban for his perceived misdemeanour.
Thankfully and quite honestly unusually, racing’s justice department have themselves got a wrap on the knuckles. Panel chair Sarah Crowther KC said:
“We find that his body position was different to the first nine strikes, it seems to us that he was somewhat crouched and off balance to his left and very low in the saddle.
“Whilst his arm and hand were in the same angle as the previous strikes, the change in body position and the different stride of the horse had the effect of changing the angle of the strike.
“It was common ground, that as Mr Powell retrieved his whip from that strike on the way back, pulling it back towards his right-hand side and bringing it forward, there was contact. It seemed to us the question for us was whether that contact constituted use of the whip.”
It’s worth noting, of course, that the reinstatement of the Newmarket win now means that the horse has now clocked up two of the prime handicaps of the season – the other being the Northumberland Plate – would you bet against the hat trick being landed?
Leave a Reply