Adam Kirby, the leading jockey on the all-weather circuit this winter with a strike rate of nearly one-in-four, said on Thursday that the British Horseracing Authority had put "a slur on my character" after he was banned for seven days for failing to ensure that a horse ran on its merits.
Kirby was banned for his ride on Pipers Piping in a seven-furlong handicap at Kempton Park on 5 December. His horse was slowly away from a good draw one off the rail and then trapped behind horses in the home straight, and though Pipers Piping still appeared to be going well, it was a situation which Kirby seemed to accept at least a furlong from the line.
The local stewards did not inquire into Kirby's performance on the day, but it was subsequently referred to the BHA's disciplinary panel following a review. The BHA did not suggest that Kirby was riding to orders, or that he intended to prevent Pipers Piping achieving the best possible placing, but the disciplinary panel decided that Kirby had put insufficient effort into the ride.
The official notice of the inquiry's findings said that "the panel noted that inside the final two furlongs a gap developed on the inside which Kirby failed to attempt to take advantage of. The panel also considered from this stage to the winning post his riding was not seen to be vigorous enough. In its opinion the panel felt that Kirby failed to take all reasonable and permissible measures to ensure the gelding ran on its merits."
Kirby, who attended the hearing with a solicitor, left immediately afterwards to travel to Lingfield, where he rode his 49th winner of the winter campaign on the 1-2 favourite Grendisar. His nearest pursuer in the all-weather championship race is Jim Crowley, who rode two winners at Wolverhampton on Thursday but is still 20 winners adrift of Kirby on 29. Kirby's ban will run from 18 to 24 January inclusive.
"I'm a little bit upset about it," Kirby said at Lingfield. "[Pipers Piping] isn't any cop whatsoever and I rode the way I did to get him to run well. He ran well. As soon as you get vigorous with him, he stops. He was well beaten before and after so it's a shame. It's a slur on my character. I don't prevent horses from winning. I didn't prevent him from winning, I rode him the way I did to get him to run well."
Sharestan , an interesting recruit to the Godolphin operation from John Oxx's stable, was an impressive winner on the first card of the Dubai Carnival at Meydan, which will conclude with the world's richest day of racing when the track stages the Dubai World Cup at the end of March.
The lightly raced five-year-old, successful in four of his seven starts including the Irish Lincoln and two Listed races, was a four-length winner over the nine-furlong trip of the Dubai Duty Free on World Cup night, one of the most valuable turf races in the international calendar.
Katchit, who broke a 23-year losing streak for five-year-olds when he took the Champion Hurdle in 2008, has died after suffering a bout of colic.
Alan King's gelding won the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival a year before his victory in the Champion Hurdle. Katchit won 10 of his 24 starts over hurdles, and earned his connections nearly £600,000 in win and place prize money, but he did not record another success in 11 starts after his Champion Hurdle victory.
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