Maxse rejects Pipe accusation

Jockey Club public relations director John Maxse today strenuously refuted Martin Pipe’s accusation that the disciplinary panel had made their mind up before yesterday’s Celtic Son inquiry.

The champion trainer was fined £3,000 and jockey Jamie Moore received a 21-day ban at a hearing in London over the running and riding of Celtic Son at Exeter last October. The horse was banned from running for 40 days.

“Yesterday’s panel included one of the most experienced regulatory lawyers operating in the country at the moment. He would have been absolutely aghast at that allegation,” Maxse told Racing UK.

“The evidence was there for the panel to see on the video. The panel made their conclusion, I believe, on what they saw on the video.

“The panel said they felt that Jamie Moore had intentionally restrained the gelding after the third-last.

“Jamie Moore in his defence said he had hit the gelding six times in the home straight. The panel came to the view that any contact was minimal and the hits were not typical of a jockey trying to achieve the best possible placing.

“This was quite a serious case and they came to the view that he had restrained the gelding.”

Maxse explained the criteria on how certain races are screened.

He said: “The stewards on the track monitor the races on the day and we look at things again – certain types of races are going to be looked at more closely.

“Eyecatching runs or intelligence that we have acquired on horses are flagged up with the stewards on the day and we have a circular of notes which they share between them.

“There are going to be situations that are going to be missed – in this case at Exeter first time round.

“That in itself is not satisfactory, but by having a system such as we have with instruction H19 and the review monitoring system, we are doing our best to iron out those sort of problems and bring matters to justice.”

Connections have until Monday afternoon to decide whether to lodge an appeal.