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From Indo
Prior to Saturday's Badger Ales Trophy at Wincanton, keen-eyed racing enthusiasts noted on social media that one of the 18 runners in the £60,000 handicap wasn't qualified to run. The horse was The Young Master, which is trained by Co Antrim native Neil Mulholland.
The Young Master had run twice previously over fences, yet the race conditions stipulated that a horse had to have done so three times to be eligible. It isn't uncommon for trainers to inadvertently enter horses for races that they are subsequently found not to qualify for; a glaring example would be a horse becoming ineligible for a maiden hurdle after winning another hurdle in the interim.
Once Mulholland entered The Young Master, it was the job of the administrative body - Weatherbys - to place "nq" by its name. They didn't, and The Young Master duly sluiced up for Barry Geraghty.
All of a sudden, the British Horseracing Authority had some explaining to do. Emma Lavelle, who trained the runner-up Court By Surprise, sportingly acknowledged that the winner had "won on merit" and that she wouldn't be objecting.
She pitched the ball back into the court of the BHA, as it is also within their powers to object. On the other hand, she may have given them a get-out-of-jail-free card.
The Young Master wasn't overqualified for the race - he was underqualified. He competed off his correct rating and defied his inexperience to win, and there was no unfair advantage conferred.
STRIPPED
Would it be fair for him to be stripped of his winnings when it was the authorities' blunder that facilitated his participation in the first place? He wasn't qualified, but it is hardly surprising to hear that the winner's owner will "consider legal action if the race is taken away". The horse has, well, bolted.
Someone at administrative level fell asleep at the wheel, and the source of the blunder is presumably to be found in the name of a race that The Young Master contested in February. He ran in a two-mile Flat handicap at Kempton that was titled the BetBright Chase Day Handicap, which clearly prompted someone in officialdom to haplessly conclude that it was a chase. -
Taken the race off him and reassessed handicap mark.
Very harsh.Comment
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