Callum Shepherd© Photo Healy Racing
Callum Shepherd has successfully appealed against an 18-day ban imposed by the Kempton stewards last month.
Riding the David Simcock-trained Thorntonledale Max in a seven-furlong handicap, Shepherd was judged to have failed “to take all reasonable and permissible measures on a horse which would have finished outright first” after Flavour Maker forced a dead-heat on the line.
Shepherd “completely refuted” the allegation at the time, and contested that decision before the British Horseracing Authority’s independent panel on Tuesday morning.
During a lengthy hearing, Shepherd argued he had not stopped riding in the finish, but had lost his balance when using his whip for the final time and came up in the saddle in order to recover his rhythm, insisting his mount had lost “no momentum whatsoever” in the process.
He described it as “embarrassing to watch” and said he “looked a mess” but had continued to ride as he tried to regain his usual style.
“I look all the over the place, it looks bad and I would be the first to say it but it is unusual and completely unintended,” he said.
The panel agreed with Shepherd’s defence and quashed the penalty.
Panel chairperson HH James O’Mahony said: “Whether or not there was an admitted or in fact a mistake is open to argument.
“We accept the reality of life in sport and particularly in racing that things happen very fast and if every time a jockey made an error of judgement there was to be hearing about it, then hearings would go on every day and forever. So it is open to us to consider as we judge it the question of an acceptable explanation.
“We find on the balance of probabilities there was a loss of rhythm and an imbalance that had some causal connection with the appearance and the fact of Mr Shepherd rising as he did above the saddle in the closing strides, and we were able to say that on the most infinitesimal and minute observation of the footage any number of times, from all relevant angles and with close noting of specific times.
“We add that there was no apparent loss of momentum as far as the horse was concerned and finally we emphasise that this case is decided on its own facts and is in no way a precedent or a ruling on any matter of principle that may arise in future cases of this kind.
“The sanction is, of course, quashed.
“We add that in the time available to the stewards when they made their decision, they had nothing like the opportunity that we have had to examine the evidence in such detail.”
