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Horses For Courses: Super ride earns Nicky unjust ban
Nicky Mackay celebrates winning the Britannia Stakes on Sagramor on day three of the Royal Ascot Meeting at 2011 Ascot. PIC: PA
Nicky MacKay’s ride on Stars In Your Eyes on Monday was a contender for ride of the week.
It says much, then, about the ludicrous rules of this game that the young pilot’s “reward” was losing his prize money and being handed a 10-day ban.
There has been a distinct lack of racing of late due to the arctic blast, but thanks to the sole Wolverhampton meeting on Monday there has been no shortage of controversy.
And, indeed, how ironic that what will probably be this week’s main talking point occurred at Dunstall Park on a “quiet Monday” at a fixture which was the only one in the UK.
The card was a most uninspiring one, yet if there looked a good thing on paper it was John Gosden’s Stars In Your Eyes, who was quite clearly going to take the world of beating unless her main market rival, Mark Johnston’s Madrilene, was any good.
The fact that she drifted from 7-4 out to 4-1 suggested she wasn’t and, moreover, the remarkable shift in price of Stars In Your Eyes from 7-4 into 1-2 suggested the Gosden filly would win by half the track.
Incredible
Never mind win by half the track, she ran on just about every part of the track yet still won thanks to the efforts of Mackay, whose 10-day ban is one of the most stupid suspensions handed out yet.
Anyone who hasn’t seen the race should visit the At The Races website and select the video archive for Monday’s 3.40pm at Wolverhampton, or type in Stars In Your Eyes and watch her “video form”.
It was thanks to that service that I was able to witness the race for the first time on Tuesday morning and it is incredible that Stars In Your Eyes somehow still won despite running what must have been about a furlong more than the rest of the field.
The filly hung right to the far rail around two bends – ending up on the near side rail in the home straight and such was the distance she covered it was like giving the others about a 20-length head start.
Amazingly, the wayward beast still obliged and it was down to the efforts of Mackay, who not only got the horse to win but also prevented a nasty accident.
Mackay has been reprimanded because he hit his horse 10 times when the limit is seven, but I defy anyone to watch that race on Monday and say he is guilty of cruelty to animals; regardless of what the limit is – and we all know that the limit is too low anyway.
It is quite clear that, in the main, Mackay is hitting his horse in an attempt to keep her in a straight line and the stewards are missing the point when they say: “the problem is that the use of the whip didn’t stop the filly from drifting”.
That is true but what is also true is that if Mackay had not administered reminders the drift would have been even more severe and Stars In Your Eyes would have crashed through the rail and run into the bookmakers’ stands.
Or maybe the stewards room and perhaps that is what was needed for them to see the point!
The severity of Mackay’s ban is also due to the fact that it is his second such offence. This, to be fair, is no fault of the Wolverhampton stewards, but it beggars belief that they could not see more sense in this race and their condemnation on Twitter on Monday evening was universal.
I follow around 800 people involved in racing on the social networking site across all spectrums and there was not one comment from anyone saying that the ban was just.
You could argue that I don’t follow many animal rights protesters or even stewards but the feeling that this ban was unjust is widespread and Mackay will surely appeal and win that appeal against this silly ban.
What’s also notable is that the jockey actually stopped riding in the last 10 yards or so and that should be conclusive proof that he was indeed hitting his mount in a bid to straighten her up rather than to beat her top extremes to land first prize.
The jockey was dismayed by the decision and said: “Obviously I have hit the horse 10 times but I thought I was in danger of going through the fence or something more serious happening. I don’t know how serious it has to get for them to let you off.
“I told the stewards that I was using my whip to correct my filly.
“Obviously you want to win, but when you get in a situation like that, safety comes first. They haven’t looked at that, I don’t think.”
The stewards might have had a horse crashing into their room had it not been for Mackay, who was ultimately punished for one of the best rides yet of 2012.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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