A dramatic novice chase at Perth on Tuesday left jockey Nathan Moscrop with a winner and a 10-day riding ban. The stewards decided that he had failed to pull up his mount Im Too Generous – the only one of six starters still standing – when the gelding apparently went lame after jumping the final fence.
Moscrop made all the running on the 9-2 chance and was in a clear lead after three opponents failed to jump the fourth-last fence. Court Dreaming, who was in a distant second place, unseated his jockey at the next while the only other runner was pulled up. Im Too Generous came home in a canter, but the stewards held an inquiry and decided that the rider had “failed to dismount his horse when it appeared to have gone lame after the final fence”.
A subsequent veterinary examination confirmed that Im Too Generous was lame on his off-fore leg and Moscrop was banned for 10 days. John Dance, the horse’s part-owner, told the Racing Post on Tuesday that he felt the ban was “incredibly harsh”.
“He [Moscrop] knows he’s got over the last,” Dance said. “I was watching from work and haven’t seen after the line, but I don’t believe Nathan would do anything other than the right thing for the horse, he absolutely adores him.” Dance added that Im Too Generous would be retired after his latest win, due to fears that a previous tendon injury had resurfaced.
“Nathan has put so much work into getting that horse right,” Dance said, “not just on the track but at home too. I’ve spoken to him, he’s heartbroken he won’t get to ride him again. I can’t believe that he wouldn’t have pulled the horse up sensibly as soon as he’d felt something.”
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Enable exploits can boost diminished King George
The King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on Saturday could set several records that the course might prefer to overlook. The smallest number of trainers to run horses – just two – is already a given, while a drop from eight entries to four would see the smallest field since 1964. The chance that it will generate even a small part of its £400,000 prize fund via betting turnover also seems remote.
At the Queen’s racecourse, though, this is all being viewed with typical stoicism. There has never been a year like this one, but so long as Enable turns up to attempt to set another, much more positive record with an unprecedented third win, the rest is detail. Enable was backed from 5-6 to 4-6 with William Hill on Tuesday, amid growing optimism that the race on Saturday will be remembered only for a historic achievement.
“There really isn’t a great sense of disappointment,” Nick Smith, Ascot’s head of PR, said on Tuesday. “There have in the past been renewals where you thought, this isn’t quite the midsummer showpiece you want to have, but I don’t think people feel like that, because you’ve got Enable and the six-day entry means you won’t get speculative entries.
“We’d have loved to see Ghaiyyath [the Eclipse winner] run but his path was set immediately after the Eclipse. This is a very unusual year, and the way that the Derby was run means that with the best will in the world, could you really go to a King George after being beaten 10 or 12 lengths in the Derby? It requires an enormous improvement from anything we’ve seen other than Love [the Oaks winner] and for her it makes sense to go to [the Yorkshire Oaks at] York.”
The fact that only Aidan O’Brien and John Gosden had horses in their yards deemed worthy of a King George entry also seems to be a poor reflection on the level of competition at the highest level. Smith, though, points out that the feature event at Goodwood a few days later has a much wider range of participants.
“This is one race in isolation being dominated by two trainers in one given year. The Sussex Stakes has a very different picture. Marcus Tregoning has a Summer Mile winner [Mohaather], Ger Lyons has a Classic-winning three-year-old from Ireland [Siskin], and there was even talk that Frankie might ride Siskin because John Gosden didn’t have a runner.”
Yarmouth 12.45 My Vision 1.20 Alpine Mistral 1.50 Elsie Voilet 2.20 Pink Sands 2.50 Soldier Lions 3.20 Independence Day 3.50 Prince Casper 4.20 Internationalangel 4.50 Folk Dance
Bath 1.10 Sidi Mansour 1.40 Q Twenty Boy 2.10 Pull Harder Con 2.40 Chil Chil (nap) 3.10 Lehwaiyla 3.40 Alezan 4.10 Grimsthorpe Castle 4.40 Ifton 5.10 Hidden Depths
Catterick 4.30 Jigs Princess 5.00 Infant Hercules 5.30 Mogsy 6.00 Poet’s Magic 6.30 Science 7.00 Lucky Beggar 7.30 Northern Charm
8.00 Indian Sounds (nb) 8.30 Madeeh
All six of O’Brien’s King George entries are also engaged in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh on Sunday so a five-runner field, at best, seems likely on Saturday. “This is a very abnormal year,” Smith says. “Normally we couldn’t have pattern races on top of each other , but we all have to make sacrifices this year.
“Last year it was widely seen as the race of the season with Enable against Crystal Ocean and the Derby winner [Anthony Van Dyck]. The most important thing is that Enable is there and going for the hat-trick. It’s never been done and shouldn’t be underestimated what an achievement that would be.”