Amateur riders suspended following Plumpton confusion

Three amateur riders were given seven-days bans following confusion over the bypassing of hurdles at Plumpton.

Daisy Warden aboard Hilltown, Tommie O’Brien on Tropical Speed and Sain Et Sauf’s rider Harry O’Dwyer were suspended after they mistook the chequered flag – which means to bypass a hurdle – for a stop-race flag during the BPL Amateur Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle.

The trio consequently pulled up their mounts and while all the jockeys appeared to be a little confused, it was Patrick Mullins, riding Paul Nicholls’ It’s A Breeze, who forged on, with three others following.

The race was eventually won by Adam Ryan on Neil Mulholland’s Clear Storm.

Ryan told Sky Sports Racing: “To be honest I wasn’t sure, I heard someone shout ‘are we off or is it a false start’ and I saw people starting to pull up.

“I wasn’t sure if I should pull up until I saw on the big screen the race was on and we continued on from there.”

Chief steward Steve Drowne said: “They were bypassing the three hurdles in the straight because of the low sun, so the whistles were being blown and the flags were being waved and there were four jockeys who pulled up by mistake thinking it was a false start.

“While the race was slowing, Mr (James) King’s saddle went up the neck so he was found not guilty, he had to pull up because the saddle had gone, his horse (Dreamweaver) was unrideable.

“The others have got seven days for mistaking the chequered flag.

“A whistle is blown for a chequered flag or a stop-race just to alert riders there is a problem. The whistle is there to alert the jockeys there is a problem, the low sun is a problem for the horses not the jockeys.

“We were entirely satisfied procedures were followed correctly.”