Stewards error causes confusion
Confusion reigned at Wolverhampton today when the stewards revised the placings of the opener and split two horses which had dead-heated for third.
Iamback was the original winner of the Bet Direct Daily Best Bets Banded Stakes from Desert Fury with Gem Bien and Backlash sharing third place.
However, an inquiry was called in which the stewards found that Lisa Jones on the winner had caused two lots of interference, firstly to the sixth home Merlins Profit and then to Gem Bien, allowing her mount to drift right and away from the whip in the first instance, and then failing to take any steps to prevent interference occurring.
For the first instance of careless riding Jones escaped with a caution but for the second she picked up a two-day suspension on Wednesday March 30 and Thursday March 31.
The problems for the stewards began when they revised the placings only to promote Gem Bien to clear second from equal third. They left Backlash in third jointly with Iamback which meant they had improved the placing of just one of the dead-heaters.
Stipendiary steward Simon Cowley initially was unaware of the mistake but then held up his hands and accepted the blame.
Cowley said: “We accept we have called an amended result which is wrong but it can’t be changed because the jockeys have weighed in.
“Its unfortunate, but we have misinterpreted the Rule and split two horses which dead-heated.”
Derek Nolan picked up a four-day suspension for excessive use of the whip on The Beduth Navi after the gelding had finished second to Reggae Rhythm in the Bet Direct On The Premiership Banded Stakes.
The stewards decided that Nolan, using his whip from two furlongs out, had not given his mount time to respond. His suspension runs from Wednesday March 30 to Saturday April 2 inclusive.
