Justice has been done,” the trainer Philip Hobbs said on Thursday after Declan Lavery, who was banned for 10 days after finishing third on Hobbs’s Jerrysback in last week’s National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham when the stewards decided he had continued on the horse when it had no more to give. And indeed it has, with the appeal panel deciding that Jerrysback did have more to give, as he showed by fighting back for third place having been headed on the run-in.
For some, though, this decision will also be seen as supporting the view that Lavery suffered a gross injustice at Cheltenham, a view shared by Sir Anthony McCoy among others when he described the original verdict as “an absolute disgrace”, “indefensible” and “as bad a decision” as he had seen “in 25 years in racing”. Having watched the closing stages of the race countless times on Thursday morning and from a range of angles that were not available to McCoy or anyone else who criticised the Cheltenham stewards’ decision, I have to disagree.
Written by Greg Wood
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/mar/22/tony-mccoy-was-wrong-cheltenham-festival-national-hunt-chase-needed-investigation-horse-racing under the title “Tony McCoy was wrong: Cheltenham Festival ride did need investigation”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
