Horse Racing: Jockey Chouhan gets 1-year ban

Representational Image

The stewards of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) Ltd, in a meeting held at the Mahalaxmi racecourse on Tuesday, decided to suspend the riding license granted to jockey P S Chouhan for a period of one year for "not allowing a horse to run on merit".

The veteran jockey's ride astride a horse named Lord Commander, trained by Bezan Chenoy, in race #230 last month (March 15) had come under serious scrutiny after the odds on the horse, who was ante-post favourite at 16/10, drifted wildly in the bookmakers' ring at race time, touching 7-2. Co-incidentally, Fine Tune (H Zeeshan up), carrying the same silks as Lord Commander but trained by Mansoor Shah, received spirited backing, and won the race.

Running of the race

After a clean jump, Chouhan had positioned Lord Commander in 11th position, with only three horses behind him in a 14-horse field. Lord Commander, however, moved up fluently through the homestretch despite the traffic, to race fourth at the 300m marker, but did not improve thereafter, even as Fine Tune managed to beat the ring favourite El Tycoon (Amyn Merchant up) in a close fight.

Steward-speak

Geoffrey Nagpal, chairman of the stewards, confirmed the punishment when speaking to mid-day. "The highest punishment for this offence of not allowing the horse to run on merit," he said, "is three years. We have given the jockey a one-year suspension."

Jock-talk

When mid-day contacted jockey Chouhan on phone, he said he has yet to receive the official order, however, he made clear he would definitely appeal against the punishment.

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