MUMBAI: The stewards of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) have opened an inquiry into the running and riding of Juliette, the hot favourite who finished second owing to the allegedly belated effort by her jockey A Sandesh in the Indian Turf Invitation Cup race held at the Mahalaxmi racecourse on Sunday.
"Yes we have opened an inquiry on the handling of favourite Juliette," Chief Stipendiary Steward Shujjat Hussain told TOI on Monday.
In the 2400 metres race, Sandesh kept Juliette far back in a seven horse field for most of the journey and pushed her only nearing the home stretch. Juliette accelerated brilliantly and overtook all the rivals but failed to catch the front running eventual winner Alluring Silver and finished second.
When asked by the stewards, sources say even Juliette's trainer Karthik Ganapathy expressed disappointment over the handling of his mare by Sandesh.
