did the stewards get it right?

​Firstly, let me say I tipped Potterman to win the old Whitbread Chase on Saturday and though I resent the slide into ordinariness that is being allowed to happen to the old historic race, I did predict it would be competitive. Indeed, it was still competitive twenty-five minutes after the horses had past the winning post.
As a letter writer in the Racing Post pointed out today, it seems odd that a horse that neither finished first past the post nor was involved in the incident that took the stewards twenty-five minutes to resolve should end up the winner. I do not blame the stewards, as normally I take every opportunity of doing, as according to the rules they only had two verdicts at their disposal – to leave the result as posted or to disqualify the winner and place him behind the horse he had barged into. I have to admit I was happier with the decision they eventually came to than if they had allowed Enrilo and Harry Skelton to have kept the race.
Martin Broughton, one of the owners of Enrilo, commenting in the Racing Post, a comment that Alan King agreed with, is that without the coming together of Enrilo and Kitty’s Light, Potterman would only have finished third, which makes his elevation to winner seemingly quite absurd. As Broughton eloquently maintains, in the light of Saturday’s bet365 Gold Cup, the rules should now be looked at. Broughton does not take issue with his horse being disqualified, at least not entirely, though he does think they have been penalised quite harshly for an incident Harry Skelton could not have avoided, though he remains adamant that the stewards based their verdict on ifs, whys and might-be’s. It did appear that Kitty’s Light was about to go past Enrilo when the incident occurred, though it also equally appeared that Enrilo was at his strongest at the line and could have as easily rallied, as did his stable-mate Frodon in an earlier race.
Two fairer verdicts, though neither would be permissible as the rules are presently laid down, would have been for Kitty’s Light to have got the race, with Enrilo demoted to second or for the two horses to have shared the spoils. Either verdict would not have disadvantaged the connections of Potterman as they were booked for third if the incident had not taken place.
The key point that Martin Broughton missed in his summation of the controversy was that, although inadvertently, Harry Skelton did infringe the rules of racing by allowing his horse to veer into another runner causing the jockey to snatch up and for the horse to lose a possible winning chance, and if the incident was worthy of Skelton being given a four-day ban, then surely the incident was severe enough for the horse to be disqualified. I agree, though, that Enrilo was an unlucky loser, as was Kitty’s Light.
Tis a pity about the controversy of the finish of the bet365, as I found the final day of the season quite satisfying, though not as satisfying as Paul Nicholls, going home as he did with the champion trainers’ trophy, three winners, a second that ran a mighty race in the opener and what he will consider the moral winner of the big race.
Although a long way off his best, I would imagine the ground played its part, it is always a delight to witness Frodon jump a steeplechase fence and on Saturday he also demonstrated his battling qualities to get back up on the line to defeat a horse a long way better than his recent form figures would suggest. Mister Fisher would look to me like a Galway Plate candidate, not that Nicky Henderson would be a natural for taking a horse to Ireland in late summer.
It was also great to see Bryony, for the past few months overshadowed by the exploits of Ireland’s leading, indeed the world’s leading female jockey, Racheal Blackmore, demonstrate what a good tactician she is. Seeing Altior about to gallop off into the distance, it was only Bryony who had the awareness to keep tabs on him. I know she is a bit unorthodox and treads her own path but she is a very good rider, deserving of the success that comes her way. Not having the statistics to hand and guessing somewhat, I would think that if you divide the number of rides she has had in Grade 1 races by Grade 1 winners she has ridden, the average would be very similar to the total achieved by Racheal Blackmore, even if she has ridden a ton more Grade 1 winners than Bryony. Hopefully next season she will receive more opportunities in the big races when Cobden is injured or suspended, with the owners at Ditcheat more willing to book Bryony than get in outsiders like Sam Twiston-Davis, Sean Bowen or Daryl Jacob, as good as they are.
Finally, I have heaped praise on Patrick Mullins the writer once before on this website and in today’s Racing Post he has written a wonderful appraisal of his season. If you want to know why he is so good, compare and contrast this piece of mine with his column. Simplicity of prose, a fine turn of phrase and an ability to set a reader’s pace from the first sentence to the last. That’s Patrick Mullins, by the way, not me. I can only dream to be half as eloquent. I do have one observation, though, one small criticism – why Patrick are you scared of the semi-colon? I love a semi-colon. I use them all the time, even when they are not needed. But then Patrick Mullins writes for the Racing Post while I’m lucky to get the odd letter published now and again. As I suggested, compare and contrast.