‘Iron Duke’ finds stewards in a lenient mood

By Ian Carnaby

It would be churlish to criticise any aspect of the salvage operation so effectively employed when the York Ebor meeting was lost to the weather. Indeed, racing showed just how quickly and effectively it can respond when people pull together; there may never be another two days when top-class races take place at unlikely venues, or sponsors, broadcasters, trainers and public act as one.

In the Racing Post, William Derby, chief executive and clerk of the course at York, did well to provide an in-depth account of his movements and decisions before the rain defeated him. By and large people were quite sympathetic, though failing to call a precautionary inspection for Tuesday morning was certainly a mistake. If patrons have the slightest doubt about a fixture taking place, they are likely to delay their journey. If you say that no inspection is necessary, they tend to set off early and make a day of it. Thus, many racegoers were on the road or the train when the abandonment was announced.

Anyway, onwards. The Juddmonte International provided what the King George could not - a meeting between the best of two generations. Unfortunately, and to return to the ‘churlish’ bit, it was not the epic confrontation many desired. That is not the fault of the principals, of course. Duke Of Marmalade shrugged off any effects of his abortive journey a few days previously and ran his usual race, taking a grip on things, coming under pressure, then battling on again to pull clear. It will take a very good horse indeed to overtake Duke Of Marmalade in the final hundred yards and, for all his gameness, Phoenix Tower was never quite going to manage it.

But the reason the race fell short of its billing was that the Derby winner New Approach was not at his best. In fact, he did well to finish third, having taken a fierce hold in the early stages, with his jaw cocked, before feeling the warmth of the whip with three furlongs to travel. At one stage it appeared he would drop out, but he kept on again up the hill and there was certainly no disgrace in splitting Phoenix Tower and Pipedreamer, both of whom have been in excellent form.

It was asking a great deal of him to take on Duke Of Marmalade after an absence dating back to the Derby. New Approach must be some animal to recover from his setback, shake off any rustiness and still keep going in the closing stages after doing his level best to wreck his own chances by pulling Kevin Manning’s arms out, even if only for a short time. Make no mistake, if Jim Bolger can persuade the Epsom hero to relax and settle before renewing rivalry in the Irish Champion Stakes, we may well witness the gripping battle we missed the other day.

There was a clear infringement of rule 153 (iv)

The other reason the Newmarket Juddmonte fell slightly short concerns the tactics adopted by the Ballydoyle team. Just to get one thing straight, this writer has no problem with strategic manoeuvres in a race if no other runners are deliberately hampered, and that certainly did not happen in the International. But Red Rock Canyon led until Duke Of Marmalade was ready to take over, then simply moved over to let him through. And if you study BHA rule 153 (iv) quite carefully, you will see that there was a clear infringement in this case. Crucially, the wording goes: ‘a rider shall not make a manoeuvre in a race in the interests of another horse in common ownership or under common control or from the same stable or team, whether or not such a manoeuvre caused interference or caused his horse to fail to achieve its best possible placing’.

The last bit is vital. It describes exactly what Colm O’Donoghue did when Johnny Murtagh was ready to go on. There was no interference as far as other runners were concerned (unless you split hairs and say Phoenix Tower had a bit further to travel to get round Red Rock Canyon), but there does not need to be for the rule to be broken, which clearly it was.

Quite what Murtagh was thinking of when he apparently told the Sunday Times: “I just wanted to worry about myself and Colm and I said to him, ‘when you get to the four marker, just ease off and give me the passage through’, only he can know. By the time he arrived at Deauville the following day, he was anxious to deny that there had been any tactics at all. No one is likely to be fooled by that.

It’s not so much a question of whether the best horse won the race. Duke Of Marmalade was unquestionably the best horse and rewarded his trainer’s admirable attention to detail. But there is no point in the authorities making a rule, only to ignore it. Would Duke Of Marmalade have been disqualified if the stewards on the day had acted with due diligence? Probably not. They would have had O’Brien, Murtagh and O’Donoghue in and made it clear that a similar manoeuvre in future would be viewed very seriously. They were hardly going to fan the flame of controversy this time, especially when only a semi-miracle, together with sponsor Khalid Abdulla’s unflinching commitment, enabled the race to take place anyway.

O’Brien is a canny man, as we all know. Once he has had a word with Murtagh about the Sunday Times quote, he will take on board the fact that tactical manoeuvres are bound to be punished sooner or later. Therefore, I believe they are probably on the way out already.