5th January 2018

Many of you I am sure watch racing on a daily basis? How an earth Robin Dickin’s horse got thrown out at Bangor yesterday is nothing short of ludicrous. There was absolutely no interference, no jockey stopped riding, the winner’s jockey has voiced that the decision is harsh. How the stewards concluded what they did is quite shocking. Did they interview the jockeys, if so, did they not listen? It appeared to me that the winner opted to switch in order to take the most direct line to the finishing post. Any racing fan will know some horses will get rolling when made to switch and in this case it worked and was a very good piece of riding from Brian Hughes. When Robin wins his appeal the stewards need to be held accountable and made to go a week’s refresher course in how to interpret the rules of racing. I believe it was a very very poor decision on their behalf and have no doubt Robin will win the appeal. If horses play up at the stalls they have to prove themselves via a stalls test. Is it time to implement a similar test for stewards?