Jockey Silvestre de Sousa expressed his frustrations with the starter at Royal Ascot to the Racing Post on Thursday, after an incident in Wednesday’s final race saw the gates open before he could remove the hood from his mount, Stunning Beauty. De Sousa was forced to immediately pull up the horse, but after a lengthy 30-minute delay, stewards officially ruled Stunning Beauty had been a starter.
“The hood didn’t come off so I couldn’t race,” de Sousa told the Racing Post. “He could have waited two more seconds for me to get it off, but he wouldn’t wait and opened the stalls before I could take the hood off. I was shouting, there was a lot of talking going on in there, and they could have waited for me. They just didn’t wait.”
Gamblers were also frustrated, as the stewards’ decision meant no refunds or deductions would be given out.
A report from the stewards said: “The stewards only have the power to declare a horse a non-runner if it has been prevented from starting due to a faulty action of the stalls or the horse is riderless at the time the start was effected. As De Sousa was mounted at the time the start was effected and there was no faulty action of the starting stalls, Stunning Beauty was deemed to have started.”
In an article in the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong Jockey Club chief steward Kim Kelly said bettors wagering on the race via the world pool ought to have received a refund, and in fact would have if the race had occurred in Hong Kong.
“The IFHA (International Federation of Horseracing Authorities) have introduced a model rule into the international agreement dealing with non-runners but not everyone has signed up to it,” Kelly said. “I have no doubt at all she would have been declared a non-runner (here). The old saying is that to lose money you’ve got to be able to win money.”
Read more at the Racing Post and the South China Morning Post.
New to the Paulick Report? Click here to sign up for our daily email newsletter to keep up on this and other stories happening in the Thoroughbred industry.
Copyright © 2021 Paulick Report.
