Flag farce controversy at Sedgefield as race is declared void

Horse racing might be a multi-million pound industry, but on a cold, wintry day at Sedgefield, you don’t see many state-of-the-art digital transmission systems or flashing lights and beacons to enforce the various rules and regulations that keep things on the straight and narrow.

Instead, the sport relies on that most old-fashioned of communication techniques – a couple of stewards with an assortment of flags. And if the wrong flag is waved, the whole thing breaks down in a state of high farce.

So it was that yesterday’s Compare Bookies Odds At bookies.com Handicap Chase, a class five contest that should have raised precious few eyebrows, hit the national headlines when it was voided some ten minutes or so after the horses passed the post.

As regularly happens during National Hunt races when horses have fallen or conditions are particularly difficult, the decision was made to omit one of the fences because the low sun was deemed to be presenting a danger. The flag man at the top of the hill should have waved a chequered flag to inform the jockeys to swerve the next fence. Instead, he selected a yellow one, which signals a stopped race.

The jockeys continued, with Harry Challoner driving Debt To Society to victory in a hard-fought finish, only for their efforts to prove in vain once the stewards intervened.

The race was void, winning bets were invalid, and an air of extreme frustration was immediately apparent. Challoner, who was one of seven jockeys issued with a ten-day ban, shook his head with a rueful smile, the ‘winning’ trainer, Richard Ford, was forced to return to his Garstang base without his success erased from the record books, and a gaggle of angry punters were turned away from the bookmakers with their pockets empty.

Clearly, rules are rules, but the lack of flexibility displayed in the stewards’ room was staggering. No one gained an unfair advantage; no one was unduly inconvenienced by the choice of the wrong flag. Yet a race on which thousands of pounds was traded might as well not have happened.

Sometimes, racing doesn’t help itself, and if the sport cannot drag its practices out of the dark ages, it is hard to see how it can rebuff accusations of being outdated and untrustworthy. After all, yesterday’s events follow hot on the heels of Wetherby’s admission that their distances have been incorrect for the last five years and The Young Master’s ‘win’ in the valuable Badger Ales Trophy at Wincanton, even though he was ineligible to compete in the race.

“I’m very angry,” said Challoner, who had travelled all the way from Hereford for a solitary ride. “I understand we haven’t followed correct procedure because we should have pulled up, but yet again it’s someone else’s mistake and we’re going to be the ones that get punished.

“I’ve lost a race and the owners have lost their prize money (which was later reinstated) and have had to pay for the horses to get up here. I’ve been banned which means I will lose ten days earnings.”

Sadly, the shambles overshadowed an otherwise enjoyable afternoon that featured a number of dramatic finishes in cloying conditions.

The most impressive winner on the card was John Quinn’s El Beau, who made it two wins from two over hurdles as he cruised to victory in the SIS Dylan Meale Memorial Juvenile Hurdle.

COME ON ENGLAND: Orchard Road ridden by Jonathan England and trained by Tristan Davidson at Carlisle wins the 2.20 at Sedgefield

Having already won at Musselburgh, the three-year-old looks a talented addition to Quinn’s powerful jumping arsenal, and will surely be aimed at higher targets over the winter months.

“That’s another win,” said the Malton handler. “He’s a grand horse, and he’s stayed much better today so that’s a good sign. It’s all good experience, and he was very professional out there.

“He’s handled the ground nicely, even though it was tough enough for a three-year-old, but he already looks very versatile. Hopefully, he’ll carry on getting better.”

Quinn would dearly love to be celebrating another two-mile hurdle success on Saturday as he runs his star filly, Aurore D’Estruval in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle.

Aurore D’Estruval’s main target this season is likely to be the Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, and a possible showdown with Annie Power, but with a valuable fillies allowance on offer, she should have a decent chance of upsetting the market leaders, Irving and Sign Of A Victory, at Gosforth Park.

“She’s in good form and she’ll go there with every chance,” said Quinn, whose Cockney Sparrow finished second in last year’s Fighting Fifth. “We’re very happy with her. She had a lot of different options and it was a little bit disappointing not to have been running last Saturday, but this is a Group One, the ground will be fine for her and she gets a bit of a pull in the weights.”

John Wade might not boast a horse capable of competing at Group One level, but the Mordon trainer likes nothing better than to celebrate a winner at his local track, and after winning for the first time in 13 attempts when racing was last staged at Sedgefield a fortnight ago, Runswick Days completed a quick-fire double when triumphing by half a length in the Get Daily Racing Tips At bookmakers.co.uk Novices’ Handicap Chase.

Brian Hughes was hard at work on the seven-year-old with a more than half-a-circuit to go, but Runswick Days plugged on gamely and saw out every inch of the two-and-a-half mile trip.

“I thought he was never going to get there, but he made it in the end,” said Wade, whose Casual Cavalier was runner-up to Orchard Road in another tight finish to the final hurdle race of the day. “He stayed on brilliantly and that was the difference. At the end of the day, it’s only being in front at the finish that counts.”