Exeter stewards backed by Jockey Club

The Jockey Club today stood firmly behind its local stewards in the face of fierce criticism of their decision not to demote a winner who dramatically interfered with a gambled-on runner-up at Exeter.

Boring Goring's victory in the Doubleprint Novices' Handicap Hurdle last Friday was allowed to stand and his jockey, Mattie Batchelor, found not to have committed any riding offence, despite the partnership veering violently left on the run-in and baulking eventual second, Keltic Heritage.

Having caused uproar at Exeter, the ruling was the subject of emotive analysis on Saturday's Channel 4 Racing programme and prompted calls from within the industry for the Jockey Club's interference rules to be reviewed.

But John Maxse, spokesman for the Jockey Club, stressed the Exeter stewards had acted in strict accordance with rule 171(ii) which demands that a winner only be demoted if they are "satisfied the winning horse has improved his placing because of the interference".

Maxse also claimed the majority of punters agreed with the Jockey Club. "If there is any doubt the winner has improved his placing, then the result must stand under the current rule," said Maxse. "It is always a difficult rule to enforce, because interpretation of an incident is always subjective."