An enthralling Tingle Creek, when Defi Du Seuil held off the heroic late rally of Un De Sceaux, was immediately undermined by prolonged confusion over the outcome of the next race, the London National, as horse racing indulged once again its regrettable habit of tripping itself up. The acrimonious upshot was that seven jockeys, including Daryl Jacob and Harry Skelton, have been banned for 10 days and will miss all the valuable, high-profile action over the festive period.
“My kids are having a lump of coal for Christmas,” said Jamie Moore, another of the riders affected, as he contemplated the loss of income he will now suffer. “I might get them a cheap Arsenal shirt.”
The incident began in tragedy and ended in farce. The enormously popular veteran Houblon Des Obeaux collapsed, apparently from a heart attack, halfway through the race in front of the fence that was to be the second-last a circuit later.
Course officials decided there was not room to direct the remaining runners around the horse as vets sought vainly to save him and the head groundsman was directed to wave a yellow stop flag in front of the Pond Fence, the third-last.
Instead of stopping, the seven jockeys still in the battle at that late stage opted to go around the Pond Fence and finish the race, which they achieved without mishap. Inevitably, the race was ruled void by the stewards, although the announcement of that decision did not come until after an inexplicable delay of half an hour, by which time most punters had left the course.
Jacob, Skelton and Moore were banned, along with Adam Wedge, Stan Sheppard, James Davies and the 7lb claimer Philip Donovan, who had punched the air as he crossed the line first on Doing Fine. An appeal by at least some of them seems a certainty, not least because the stipendiary steward Chris Rutter conceded that “maybe not all” of the banned jockeys had seen the flag.
Kelso 12.15 Ask Himself 12.45 Two For Gold 1.15 Weststreet 1.45 Politeness (nb) 2.15 Bernardelli 2.45 Blossoming Forth 3.15 Chosen Flame
Huntingdon 12.30 Pagero (nap)
1.00 Slate House 1.30 Fransham 2.00 Top Notch 2.30 Known 3.00 White Hart Lady 3.30 Crossley Tender
“I heard whistles but I didn’t see a flag,” Moore said, a line echoed by Wedge, Skelton and Jacob. “We had the head down. I was going to jump the jump and the boys said, nah, we’re going round it. It’s hard. If you want to stop a race, you should have blocked off where we can go. It’s getting dark and horses are getting tired, you’ve got a loose horse in front of you as well.”
Dan Skelton, a trainer and brother to Harry, gave an impassioned plea for the sport to avoid such hopeless escapades in future. “We have to wake up to it’s being 2019. It’s completely inadequate to have one flag out there. We are running LED advertising boards out there. It is absolutely simple to have an LED board out there with an S on it or a big, red flashing board. It would be clear.”
Defi Du Seuil is 5-1 or shorter with most firms for the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival after a classy performance in the Tingle Creek. Philip Hobbs’s star looked set for an authoritative victory when he sailed into the lead soon after the last, though Un De Sceaux’s bravery kept it interesting to the line.
“He has a fantastic attitude,” said Hobbs, nominating the Clarence House at Ascot next month as the obvious next race. But his Cheltenham target remains uncertain. “He is very versatile, so we could go any trip with him.”
