Stoute appeal dismissed

Sir Michael Stoute has had his appeal against the £6,500 (€9,632) fine for the running and riding of Florimund in a Windsor maiden dismissed and raised to £8,500 (€12,596).

The eight-time champion trainer appeared before the disciplinary panel of the Horseracing Regulatory Authority (HRA) to argue his case as he had not been present when the Khalid Abdullah-owned three-year-old finished 11th, beaten just under eight lengths, in the PSP Association Maiden Stakes on July 24.

The local stewards felt it appropriate to punish Stoute, suspend jockey Stephen Davies for 32 days, and ban the horse from running for 40 days.

They imposed a fine of £6,500 (€9,632) on Stoute after the colt broke slowly, was dropped out and made headway down the straight, only for Davies to ease up in the final furlong.

But after hearing submissions from Stoute, Davies and Stoute’s representative Jimmy Scott – who had been present at Windsor – they deemed the case to be a serious breach of rule 155 (ii) and upped his financial penalty to £8,500 (€12,596).

An irate Stoute said on leaving the HRA headquarters: “I have nothing to say at the moment.”

The panel considered that as there was no appeal by Davies after he was charged under the non-triers rule (157), indicating that “the colt was deliberately not asked for sufficient effort”.

After viewing recordings of the race, the panel concluded the ride from Davies, who was crowned champion apprentice in 1994, was a “disgrace”.

The jockey stated his instructions had been to be handy and be in the first five approaching the bend if the horse, who had had difficulty behaving in the stalls at home, broke well.

“If not, he was he was to “take it from there”.

Although Florimund was slowly away, the panel ruled “there was ample opportunity for the colt to be much-better positioned when approaching the first part of the right-hand bend”.

Davies claimed he was “tired” when explaining his lack of effort towards the end of the race.

But the panel rejected that and said: “He was quite deliberately failing to ask for any effort from a horse that plainly had the ability to improve his position.”

The jockey – who did not ride in 2004 or 2005 and has only been given three bookings this year, all aboard Florimund – had his ride described by Stoute as “incompetent”.

Stoute told the hearing: “I was very dissatisfied with the ride and had I been at Windsor I would have told the stewards that.

“I wanted to him to be in the first four or five going into the bend and when he broke slowly he should have been more aggressive and driven the horse up.

“I probably gave him (Davies) a task which was beyond him as Windsor with 19 runners is different to Warwick with 10 runners.

“It was an incompetent ride but I don’t think he deliberately disobeyed instructions.”

Scott, who had represented Stoute at Windsor, told the local stewards that he was happy with the ride, but claimed not to have been told the riding instructions directly from Stoute.

The panel concluded that the instruction given to Davies from Stoute “was completely inadequate”.

They added: “It amounts to telling the rider to do what he felt like if the colt broke slowly.”

Stoute, however, did accept the rider’s explanation that he was tired as he said it was logical to imagine Davies would not be as fit as any other jockey who was riding on a more frequent basis.

Again the panel ruled against the Newmarket trainer and described his belief that Davies was tired as “ludicrous.”

In conclusion, they ruled that Stoute failed to prove that he gave instructions necessary to ensure the horse ran on its merits – particularly as Davies was having just his third ride of the year and had hardly ridden in public for several years.

The panel added: “Florimund was running his third race and the video recordings show it was being ridden in a manner that appeared designed to achieve a highly-advantageous handicap mark”.

Stoute’s punishment was raised after the panel viewed the case to be a particularly poor example of a non-trier. They also forfeited his deposit.

The previous record for any trainer failing to give adequate instructions to jockeys was when Alan Jones was fined £5000 over the running and riding of Aleemdar at Fakenham in April.

Stoute has until the close of play on Monday to lodge an appeal, while Florimund’s 40-day ban still stands.

The Sadler’s Wells colt will be out of action from August 8 to September 16.