FORMER champion jockey Seb Sanders was labelled ‘a class apart’ after tearing into James Doyle’s controversial Windsor ride.
At The Races pundit Sanders said it was only right Doyle be banned for appearing to ease up on odds-on fav No Retreat.
Doyle lost the race a short-head in a photo to 13-2 Brave Call, sparking punter fury.
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The No1 Wathnan jockey apologised afterwards but escaped what would have been a 28-day suspension.
But Sanders, who shared the crown with Jamie Spencer in 2007, said stewards had got it ‘horribly wrong’ by failing to act.
Sanders said: “I find it a bit puzzling. I’ve got no axe to grind with James but that… they’ve (stewards) given themselevs a horrible, horrible grey area.
“There is no question that James has eased down.
“Me personally, watching it, there is no question he has stopped riding.
“Watch James’ body language, he’s trying to use his core, now his body is on his legt-hand side when the horse steps the other way it goes the other way.
“If the horse had jinked James’s body language would move.
“We are only talking two strides from the line but as soon as you stop on a horse it immediately thinks it’s have done enough.
“I didn’t think James had done enough.
“There’s nothing I have seen on the head-on of James trying to straighten that horse up.
“To keep a horse straight you are better off pushing it than you are sitting with it, especially when you’re coming up to the line as close as that.
“It doesn’t warrant a 28-day ban but unfortunately that’s what they start at.
“I don’t get what people aren’t understanding about a jockey dropping hands.
“For me he dropped hands. I’ve watched horses for 35 years and I’m telling you now he’s made a mistake.
“I’m sorry but I think the stewards have got this horribly wrong.”
Viewers were loving Sanders’ strong views, with one saying: “Hallelujah, someone talking some sense and not afraid to upset someone.”
While another posted on X: “Everyone will have their own opinion on this but in my eyes, Seb is talking sense here and is right to call it out.”
Doyle fronted up to Matt Chapman after the race and explained, in his view, what happened.
He said: “I do 100 per cent feel for the punters that will have backed my horse and the connections of him too, but we are dealing with horses.
“They’re live animals and have a mind of their own.
“He’d only run once before and quickened up smartly to go and win his race.
“He did lug into Hollie’s horse, which is when I put my stick down, and then after that he gets a wobble on and spots the winning line.
“He goes right to try and avoid stepping on it, and then started to go left hand down and I was mindful of the turn.
“It’s like he got spooked by the winning line. I’m not vigorous up to the line as I’m trying to stay on the horse – I’m trying to keep the partnership intact as best as I can.
“You can see right on the winning line he judders to a halt. That’s what got us beat tonight.
“When you’ve got a wayward horse underneath you it’s virtually impossible to be in full drive as you’re mindful of coming off.
“These happened in the most crucial strides of the race and people say I should be suspended, but horses aren’t machines.”
The stewards’ report read: “James Doyle, the rider of No Retreat, placed second, had appeared to stop riding shortly before the winning post.
“After being interviewed and shown recordings of the incident, Doyle’s explanation that No Retreat jinked in the final strides on the run to the line, causing both itself and Doyle to become unbalanced, requiring him to get a hold of the horse’s head, was noted.”
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