Probe into race as Byrne is banned
Jockey Josh Byrne was in hot water at Leicester yesterday when he collected a seven-day ban for his riding of Shady Grey.
And with the possibility of further investigations into the race involved still to take place, the story may yet not be over.
Fifth-home Shady Grey caught the attention of the stewards in the Back And Lay At ggbet.com Novices’ Claiming Hurdle, in which 7-1 chance Devito despatched a moderate bunch of rivals despite making a mess of the last.
Byrne’s ban (February 13-19) was for “failing to take all reasonable and permissible measures throughout the race to ensure his horse was given a full opportunity to win or obtain the best possible placing”.
Jockey Club public relations director John Maxse confirmed that betting patterns before the race had attracted the attention of the specialist analysts at Shaftesbury Avenue.
“I can confirm that officials at Leicester were contacted by a betting analyst regarding the betting patterns on the race,” he said.
“He shared his concerns with the stewards shortly after the race, at which time the stewards were already planning to hold an inquiry into the running and riding of the horse.”
Shady Grey was reportedly easy to back on Betfair’s place market before the race, despite remaining relatively static on the win market.
On course, she drifted from 4-1 to 5-1, touching 9-2 shortly before the off before being returned at a starting price of 5-1.
Held up early on, Shady Grey made steady progress in the final stages to finish fifth, beaten just under 11 lengths behind the winner.
At the inquiry held after the race, Byrne stated that his instructions were to drop the mare in and make sure she got home in the heavy ground.
Trainer Karen Marks confirmed the instructions, stating that she was fairly sure that the mare would stay the two-mile distance.
