Jockeys’ suspensions to remain after BHA chiefs uphold original ruling over void race at Wetherby

Brian Hughes, who rode Malton trainer Richard Fahey’s Cunning Clarets, lamented “the lack of common sense” after the sport’s governing body rejected an appeal which had been lodged by the riders.

The decision means the jockeys – who also include 2004 Grand National winner Graham Lee and 2010 Gold Cup hero Paddy Brennan – will miss Wetherby’s prestigious Charlie Hall meeting on October 28 and 29 as part of their ban.

The BHA disciplinary panel found that the riders ignored the deployment of the yellow flag – which signifies a ‘void’ race – on the home turn and failed to pull up immediately.

It ruled that this flag must take precedence at all times – and that it is not up to jockeys to decide, in the heat of battle, whether it has been used correctly.

Wetherby’s head groundsman Ian Ward deployed the flag after the ill-fated Ashburton Lad suffered a fatal injury earlier in the race between the first and second flights in the home straight. He believed that there was insufficient room for the remaining runners to pass the stricken horse on the final circuit.

However, the jockeys say the confusion arose because they saw two chequered flags further along the track by the third last flight – their colouring warning of a potential hazard. They jumped the obstacles without incident, with Hughes – ironically last season’s most successful rider at Wetherby – then ‘winning’ a dramatic finish.

“I am very disappointed at how the whole issue has been handled,” he told the Yorkshire Post. “If I ride a horse that badly, I wouldn’t expect to get many rides.

“There was no need to void the race – there was plenty of room. When a safety car is deployed in Formula 1 racing, there’s one flag to avoid confusion.

“Why, therefore, was it okay to have a yellow flag – and then a chequered one?

“We’re made out to be bad people but no one else has been stood down for 10 days.”

Brennan added: “They say life is like a box of chocolates. Well if this is the case the ones I’m getting at the moment don’t taste very nice.”

Denis O’Regan, Danny Cook, Jonathon Bewley, Alexander Voy and Brian Toomey are the other riders who will be sidelined from October 26 until November 4.

Details of the tracks’s alignment, and use of flags, had been displayed inside the racecourse’s weighing room.

However, solicitor Rory MacNeice, representing the Wetherby jockeys, said: “The evidence showed riders were having to react to conflicting signals. They reacted to the last signal, which was two clearly deployed chequered flags, which are there to warn riders of a hazard, but not that the race should be stopped.”

It was the second occasion this week that McCoy had attended the BHA – he also took part in crisis talks on Monday to discuss the furore surrounding the introduction of new whip rules.

Now McCoy, and top Flat jockey Frankie Dettori, have distanced themselves from remarks that they made, and which appeared to endorse the changes, when the BHA revealed the new penalty structure that includes suspension, loss of riding fee and forfeiture of prize money.

This has led to a number of high-profile suspensions, with top Flat rider Richard Hughes quitting the sport until the rules are refined.

McCoy and Dettori said in a joint-statement: “In hindsight we would like to have given more thought and consideration to the new rules before commenting.

“We didn’t give them properly informed approval and we really do wish the BHA would stop saying that we did.”

n Red Duke will not run at the Breeders’ Cup meeting next month following his disappointing effort in the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket.

Malton trainer John Quinn feels the colt is showing the effects of a tough first campaign.