Instead, there was an objection by jockey Prakash who rode Confident
Victory, which finished fifth, against Southern Charge for bumping
Symbol of Speed which in turn went out, causing him to break his stride
and lose a possible place. Jockey C Alford who finished second on
Fairytaleending also objected that he was interfered by Prakash because
of the chain reaction caused by Southern Charge's violent drift.
There was a televised enquiry. It was not a Stewards enquiry but an
enquiry by the Stipes who put all the questions while the Stewards sat
and watched, except the Chairman putting an odd question. As one senior
RWITC Steward who watched the proceedings on TV at Mumbai said, decorum
was totally missing the way the jockeys conducted themselves.
Alford was quite vociferous in arguing that he was interfered by the
drift of Southern Charge but the actual fact was that he was least
affected and as such, his objection was misplaced. In fact, he was
aggressive in his behaviour, arguing repeatedly and changed track
mid-way through and said that the interference was from Southern
Charge's stablemate Red Mustang. Clearly, he did not have any logic in
his argument and his objection deserved to be thrown out and the jockey
pulled up for the way he behaved, with scant respect for the Stewards.
Jockey Prakash took even more liberties. He was inconvenienced on
Confident Victory because jockey Christopher on Symbol of Speed shifted
out and Prakash was in his path. But Prakash's objection was that he
lost a possible place but he relaxed totally in the final stages of the
race and perhaps he wanted the Stewards to push him up a place or two!
But he was clearly rude to the Chairman when he hinted that the Chairman
did not understand anything and that a horse was not a machine to pick
up speed on pressing a button after being thrown out of gear and that
due to interference; he lost his position on the frame. In the past such
behaviour by jockeys would have earned them a severe reprimand and a
fine. That nothing happened to Alford and Prakash is reflective of the
way standards have plummeted at BTC.
Jockey Mark Zahra said that though he did cause interference, his horse
drifted out and ran on the heavy sand track and still won by more than a
length and as such, the horse deserved to keep the place. The tradition
in BTC is that if the interference has not made a material difference
even if severe, the horse is allowed to retain its place.
Interestingly, Prakash on Wonder Smile did not take an objection against
Royal Ambassador in winter when the latter had taken him almost to the
edge of the grass track and he lost only by a nose. Again Prakash on
Mystical did not take objection on Velvet Rope's jockey for the
interference in the Indian Derby when he lost a possible second position
in such a prestigious race. Perhaps this is the first instance of a
jockey of a horse finishing fifth taking an objection against the winner
when he had no chance of jumping to the first place. If any jockey who
should have taken an objection should have been Christopher on Symbol of
Speed for being completed thrown out of contention. Will the Stewards
fine the jockey for not taking the objection in the belief that the
Stipes will act on their own?
The Stipes perhaps were browbeaten by the aggressive manner in which
Alford and Prakash argued their case that they changed track and
immediately said the objections should be upheld. Southern Charge was
disqualified and both the objections were upheld. In normal
circumstances, the jockeys would have been pulled up for their poor
behaviour and for being rude
The correct course of action could have been for the horse to be
disqualified for dangerous drift through a Stewards enquiry and the
objections to be overruled. By upholding the objections, the Stipes and
Stewards betrayed their lack of understanding and displayed their
inability to react to the situation. What if there were no objections?
Then the result would have stood because there was no Stewards enquiry.
The Stewards of course allowed themselves to be ruled by the Stipes and
the jockeys! One was confused as to whether the jockeys were pleading
their case or dictating their claim.
