THERE was disbelief among punters after a jockey ‘stopped riding’ with victory at his mercy.
Connor Planas looked for all intents and purposes like he was home and hosed on the Hugo Palmer-trained Supaspecialawesome at Wolverhampton on Sunday.
The four-year-old gelding went clear at half-way under a bold front-running show from the apprentice rider.
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And the duo didn’t look for catching – indeed Planas thought they weren’t – with the post in sight.
But, believing he had won, he eased his horse down in an attempt to win stylishly.
The problem was Planas had failed to spot the fast-finishing 6-4 favourite Atlantic Gamble on his outside.
Once he realised his mistake Planas quickly tried to get 15-2 Supaspecialawesome revved up again but it was too late.
A photo was called and, instead of it being a clear-cut win for Supaspecialawesome, resulted in a controversial dead-heat.
Stewards hauled Planas in for questioning, showed him the replay, listened to what he had to say and walloped him with an 18-day ban.
Explaining what on earth happened, Planas told the Racing Post: “I looked up at the screen half a furlong out and I was two lengths clear and nobody looked like coming from the pack, they all were going one pace.
“It was only when I came into the stewards’ room when I found out the screen was a touch behind and when I thought I was clear there was a horse who was coming.
“I started riding again, I only stopped for two strides if that, but the horse has come up beside me and I’ve kind of got away with it being a dead-heat because I would’ve been hit with a bigger ban if I’d finished second.
“I’ve learned a big lesson and it’ll never happen again.
“Luckily Mr Palmer and the owners were very nice to me and they said everyone makes mistakes, I just need to learn from them.”
The stewards’ report read: “Conor Planas, the rider of Supaspecialawesome, which dead-heated for first place, had appeared to stop riding shortly before the winning post.
“After being interviewed and shown recordings of the incident, Planas was suspended for 18 days for failing to ride out on a horse that would have finished as the outright winner.”
Punters thought it was fair enough Planas held his hands up and apologised – but were still raging at the original mistake.
One said: “That’s shocking for punters.”
While another branded the error a ‘disgrace’.
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