An unorthodox manoeuvre from the Lester Piggott school of riding will force Davy Russell and his fellow jockey Phillip Enright to miss much of the valuable Christmas meeting at Leopardstown after both men were banned for five days by the stewards at Clonmel on Thursday for their roles in a bizarre incident in the Powerstown Handicap Hurdle.
Russell was riding the 8-13 favourite, Leave At Dawn, in the two-mile contest, but dropped his whip when his mount made a bad mistake at the first flight. Before reaching the second flight, he then appeared to reach out and “borrow” the whip being carried by Enright, who was aboard the 33-1 shot Backinyourbox. His improvisation was to no avail, as Leave At Dawn trailed home in eighth place, while Backinyourbox was 10th of the 15 finishers.
Russell’s decision to take a fellow rider’s whip had echoes of a famous incident during Piggott’s career. Piggott dropped his whip in the early stages of a race at Deauville in 1979, but was still in third place and closing on the leader inside the final furlong. As he passed the horse racing in second, ridden by Alain Lequeux, he reached out and took Lequeux’s whip, though he was only able to galvanise his mount sufficiently to hold on to the runner-up spot.
When asked about the incident afterwards, Piggott is said to have observed that Lequeux “didn’t need it”. The Deauville stewards were not impressed by his manoeuvre, however, and demoted his mount into third, behind Lequeux.
Russell would have been glad of a similar decision by the stewarding panel at Clonmel, as both he and Enright were found to be in breach of Rule 272, which covers bringing the sport into disrepute, and banned for five days. They will miss the racing on both 20 and 21 December, and more significantly the first three days of the Leopardstown Christmas meeting, one of the most popular and valuable fixtures of the Irish National Hunt season.
“I never set out to do this as it wasn’t premeditated,” Russell said. “The suspension has come as a bit of a shock. I’ve nothing more to say and will have to digest it.”
A record field of 25 runners will go to post for the Becher Chase over the Grand National fences at Aintree on Saturday, just two fewer than lined up for the National itself in April 1996 when Rough Quest beat 26 opponents. The race takes place over three-and-a-quarter miles and 22 fences and promises to be almost as competitive as the world’s most famous steeplechase, with four horses - Chance Du Roy, Balbriggan, Goonyella and Mendip Express - sharing co-favouritism on 10-1 after the final declarations on Thursday.
Saeed bin Suroor has been fined £1,000 and his four-year-old Sky Hunter disqualified from first place in the Doonside Cup at Ayr in September after the gelding tested positive for the banned substance omeprazole, which is used to treat gastric ulcers.
The British Horseracing Authority’s disciplinary panel accepted evidence from Suroor that a five-day withdrawal period had been observed before Sky Hunter travelled to Ayr for the Doonside Cup, a Listed event with total prize money of £60,000. The panel was also satisfied that the drug had been administered on veterinary advice.
The bookmaking firm Coral has extended its sponsorship of the Scottish Grand National at Ayr until at least 2019.
The race, over four miles and half a furlong, was worth £210,000 in 2014, behind only the Grand National itself in terms of prize money for a Saturday jumps race. It also appears regularly among the top 10 races for betting turnover each year both on the Flat and over jumps.
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