Arctic Fly and Paul Townend© Photo Healy Racing
There was second-fence drama and contentious racecourse debate following the running of Killarney's Killarney Park Hotel Beginners Chase today, with Arctic Fly (4/1) eventually keeping the race after a stewards' enquiry.
Partnered by Paul Townend, Arctic Fly was prominent on the inner when the mare ducked left at the second fence and, in a freakish occurrence, appeared to jump half-between the fence wing and the birch 'upright' of the fence.
The fence wing remained - somewhat crucially, intact with Townend brushing aside the incident to later produce the Willie Mullins-trained mare to lead on the inner approaching the final fence, beating Ballywilliam Boy by an all-out head.
With the result pending, Townend mentioned “at the last stride she ducked left but was fine afterwards. I had to give her a chance turning-in (to the home straight) but she showed a willing attitude.”
Prominent racecourse bookmaker Derek Baker blasted the enquiry result, and having approached the press area, said “it is very hard to understand how they don't reverse it, considering the horse definitely didn't jump the fence and jumped to the left-hand-side of it. What are the rules — do you not have to jump a fence and still hold on to a race?
"In the betting ring, nobody could believe the decision wasn't reversed and we were sure the second horse would be given the race.”
Regarding the incident, IHRB's head of communications Niall Cronin added “the raceday stewards were satisfied that, as per Regulation 9, the horse stayed at the right side of the bundle of birch on the approach to the fence and jumped inside the wing of the fence.”
