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BHA admits Ffos Las winner Pilgrims King should not have been allowed to race in a tongue strap
Ffos Las: set to race on Monday
Ffos Las: Pilgrims King was wrongly allowed to race in a tongue strap
The BHA has admitted a mistake was made when Pilgrims King was allowed to race in a tongue strap that was not declared at Ffos Las on Tuesday.
Peter Bowen was fined £140 for declaring cheekpieces in error but he was allowed to change that to a tongue strap, which his eight-year-old wore when winning the novice handicap chase.
The horse had worn a tongue strap in each of his previous 12 outings, and 15 of his last 17, but had been below his best in the two races he had run without the equipment during that sequence.
A BHA spokesman said on Wednesday: “As per the stewards’ report for the 3.05 at Ffos Las on Tuesday, Peter Bowen was fined £140 for declaring cheekpieces in error on his runner Pilgrims King. A tongue strap was substituted. This was permitted in error and the BHA apologises to those affected.
“As the relevant rule states (Paragraph 7 of the Equipment Code), a trainer may substitute headgear that has been declared for another piece of headgear (including blinkers, cheekpieces, eye covers, eye shields, hoods and visors) if they make a request to the BHA to do so, as long as the request is received prior to weighing out and the appropriate financial penalty is paid. However, a tongue strap is not permitted to be substituted and as such the rule was incorrectly applied.
“As is standard in such situations, we will now take steps to look into the incident internally and assess what improvements can be made to processes, which will include how such equipment changes are communicated.”
Ffos Las: set to race on Monday
Ffos Las: Pilgrims King was wrongly allowed to race in a tongue strap
The BHA has admitted a mistake was made when Pilgrims King was allowed to race in a tongue strap that was not declared at Ffos Las on Tuesday.
Peter Bowen was fined £140 for declaring cheekpieces in error but he was allowed to change that to a tongue strap, which his eight-year-old wore when winning the novice handicap chase.
The horse had worn a tongue strap in each of his previous 12 outings, and 15 of his last 17, but had been below his best in the two races he had run without the equipment during that sequence.
A BHA spokesman said on Wednesday: “As per the stewards’ report for the 3.05 at Ffos Las on Tuesday, Peter Bowen was fined £140 for declaring cheekpieces in error on his runner Pilgrims King. A tongue strap was substituted. This was permitted in error and the BHA apologises to those affected.
“As the relevant rule states (Paragraph 7 of the Equipment Code), a trainer may substitute headgear that has been declared for another piece of headgear (including blinkers, cheekpieces, eye covers, eye shields, hoods and visors) if they make a request to the BHA to do so, as long as the request is received prior to weighing out and the appropriate financial penalty is paid. However, a tongue strap is not permitted to be substituted and as such the rule was incorrectly applied.
“As is standard in such situations, we will now take steps to look into the incident internally and assess what improvements can be made to processes, which will include how such equipment changes are communicated.”
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not too sure that Para 7 of the equipment code is a good thing for the integrity of racing but hey ho they know what they are doing
David Carr
Reporter
Ffos Las: deserves more support from English trainers, says Neil Fraser
Ffos Las: scene of the Pilgrims King affair
Whatever you made of the Grand National, there's no denying it was at least a public relations success. How galling, therefore, that it took just 72 hours for British racing to shoot itself in the foot again.
It happened in a Class 5 novice handicap at Ffos Las on Tuesday rather than the world's most famous chase, so the television audience was probably a hundred times smaller.
But that was by luck rather than judgement, and the incident in question underlines yet again how a sport that depends on punters' money can treat those who fund it with contempt.
Pilgrims King had been a consistent performer for Peter Bowen this season, finishing first or second in each of his three previous starts, and had a clear chance here, racing off the same mark as when runner-up at Haydock last time.
However, he was declared with cheekpieces and without a tongue-strap, equipment he had worn in each of his previous 12 outings and 15 of his last 17.
I know of punters who noted he was well below his best in the two strapless appearances in that sequence and laid the eight-year-old, who had been a best-priced 2-1 favourite overnight. But their shrewdness proved expensive.
It turned out Bowen had declared cheekpieces in error. Before the first race, his representative told the Ffos Las stewards, who fined the trainer £140, and astonishingly a tongue-tie was allowed in its place. With that fitted, Pilgrims King won gamely.
Many punters were seemingly left unaware of the change, although information was apparently passed on to the Press Association representative on course, plus commentator Martin Harris and Sky Sports Racing reporter Luke Harvey.
However, even if they did know, anyone laying the horse because he was racing without a tongue-strap – or backing one of the opposition – would have found it very difficult to get out of that position when they discovered the strap was back on.
To compound the agony, it turned out the rules did not allow it to happen, although it took until the following afternoon for an apologetic BHA to reveal its regulations had been applied incorrectly, vowing to "assess what improvements can be made to processes, which will include how such equipment changes are communicated”.
Nobody should be surprised if anyone betting on the race is tempted to switch their attention to a sport that has more consideration of their interests – at a time when racing desperately needs all the punters it can get.
Reporter
Ffos Las: deserves more support from English trainers, says Neil Fraser
Ffos Las: scene of the Pilgrims King affair
Whatever you made of the Grand National, there's no denying it was at least a public relations success. How galling, therefore, that it took just 72 hours for British racing to shoot itself in the foot again.
It happened in a Class 5 novice handicap at Ffos Las on Tuesday rather than the world's most famous chase, so the television audience was probably a hundred times smaller.
But that was by luck rather than judgement, and the incident in question underlines yet again how a sport that depends on punters' money can treat those who fund it with contempt.
Pilgrims King had been a consistent performer for Peter Bowen this season, finishing first or second in each of his three previous starts, and had a clear chance here, racing off the same mark as when runner-up at Haydock last time.
However, he was declared with cheekpieces and without a tongue-strap, equipment he had worn in each of his previous 12 outings and 15 of his last 17.
I know of punters who noted he was well below his best in the two strapless appearances in that sequence and laid the eight-year-old, who had been a best-priced 2-1 favourite overnight. But their shrewdness proved expensive.
It turned out Bowen had declared cheekpieces in error. Before the first race, his representative told the Ffos Las stewards, who fined the trainer £140, and astonishingly a tongue-tie was allowed in its place. With that fitted, Pilgrims King won gamely.
Many punters were seemingly left unaware of the change, although information was apparently passed on to the Press Association representative on course, plus commentator Martin Harris and Sky Sports Racing reporter Luke Harvey.
However, even if they did know, anyone laying the horse because he was racing without a tongue-strap – or backing one of the opposition – would have found it very difficult to get out of that position when they discovered the strap was back on.
To compound the agony, it turned out the rules did not allow it to happen, although it took until the following afternoon for an apologetic BHA to reveal its regulations had been applied incorrectly, vowing to "assess what improvements can be made to processes, which will include how such equipment changes are communicated”.
Nobody should be surprised if anyone betting on the race is tempted to switch their attention to a sport that has more consideration of their interests – at a time when racing desperately needs all the punters it can get.
Funny how the two times the tongue strap was left off was when it was running in novice hurdles, qualifying for a handicap mark.
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