A JOCKEY has been banned and winning owners stripped of £23,000 after their 12-1 horse’s easy three-length win.
The Billy McCreery-trained Navy Waters hit the front impressively on heavy ground at Leopardstown on Sunday.
Ridden by Nathan Crosse, it looked like the four-year-old was going to win convincingly in a handicap over 1m4f.
But she wandered around and hung ‘violently’ right in the final 110 yards, impeding the path of 16-1 Blake.
Chris Hayes was forced to take evasive action on Blake and effectively pull his mount up quickly to prevent a crash.
Navy Waters officially past the post three-and-a-quarter lengths clear, initially sealing a £23,000 cheque for her owners.
But stewards quickly reviewed the incident and decided a major rules infraction had occurred.
They banned Crosse for two days owing to careless riding and demoted Navy Waters to second.
That meant her owners still got £7,500 in the valuable handicap – but saw £15,000 go up in flames.
Blake was named the winner, with the stewards’ report reading: “Having viewed the recording of the race and considered the evidence, the raceday stewards were of the opinion that Navy Waters had caused interference to Blake and as a result of this interference had improved its finishing position.”
Winning trainer Noel Meade told the Racing Post: “To be honest, they nearly had to give it to him Blake.
“You can’t stop them to that degree, can you?
“They absolutely stopped him and he’s a big, long-striding horse.
“If you’re riding a bike and you’re stopped, it’s very hard to get going again that quickly.”
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