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CELTIC KING (Md Azharuddin) was fractious while being stalled.

An objection was lodged by Jockey Nirmal Jodha, the rider of ILLIDAN placed 2nd by the Judge against Jockey C Alford, the rider of SUSHI placed 1st by the Judge on the grounds of interference in that “the winner took me out from 300 metres and he bumped me at the 200 metres whereby my mount got disbalanced causing me to loose the race”. The Stewards after interviewing Jockeys Nirmal Jodha and C Alford and viewing the CCTV replay of the race unanimously decided to up hold the objection and ordered the revised placings as under :-

ILLIDAN - 1 st

SUSHI - 2 nd

WAVEAFTERWAVE - 3 rd

CELTIC KING - 4 th

When Tr. Ms. Arti Doctor and Jockey K G Steyn were afforded an opportunity to explain the running of b f WAVEAFTERWAVE, Ms. Arti Doctor stated that :-

a) She had instructed the Jockey to ride the filly from off the pace.

b) The “tongue strap” of the filly had come off while being loaded and this would have had an effect on her performance

c) The Jockey had an opportunity to improve his position in the middle stages of the race but probably he had misjudged the pace of the race as he allowed the winner and the 2 nd placed horses to take a long lead.

On questioning Jockey Steyn stated that he positioned the filly in the early stages as instructed by the trainer, however, he was unable to improve his position for a short period of time in the early stages as he was held up by the horses in front of him. He concluded by stating that in retrospect he may have had misjudged the pace of the race. The Stipendiary Stewards, however, while noting their explanations decided to fine Jockey K G Styen a sum of Rs. 15,000/- for the incompetent and ill judged handling of his mount in the race.