It is, as they say, a very ill wind that blows nobody any good, and the organisers of the Wacky Weekender Festival at Worcester racecourse this month must be quietly ecstatic that the handicap hurdle for conditional jockeys, which they sponsored at the track last Wednesday, has turned out to be one of the most talked-about races of recent months.
For the rest of us, though, it remains a horrible watch, as Dylan Kitts, the rider of Hillsin, sat stock-still all the way up the straight on a horse that looked to be travelling like a surefire winner, and finished third, a length-and-a-quarter behind the winner. It was, in Timeform’s typically understated view, “an unedifying ride that failed to get the best out of him, to say the least”, and the local stewards promptly banned Hillsin from running for 40 days while referring Kitts’s ride to the British Horseracing Authority for further consideration.
A BHA investigation into the running and riding of Hillsin is under way and there are all manner of unusual circumstances surrounding the race that may – or may not – prove to be significant. Kitts, for instance, told the stewards that his horse had made “a respiratory noise” on “several occasions” during the race, but a subsequent veterinary inspection found nothing amiss. The rider had recently returned from a 14-day ban under the “non-trier” rules, for a very similar ride, after which he also told the stewards that his horse had made a “respiratory noise”.
Hillsin was also making his first – and as it turned out, only – start for trainer Chris Honour, as the handler asked Alan Clegg, the gelding’s owner, to remove Hillsin and another of his horses, Colonel Lesley, from the stable during the social-media frenzy – including, apparently, death threats – that followed the Worcester race.
Kitts, meanwhile, was having his first ride for Honour, and this, according to the trainer, was at Clegg’s insistence. Clegg, though, told the Racing Post this was not the case, saying: “I’m gutted. I backed the horse and I’ve done nothing wrong, so I don’t know what’s going on.”
And then there are the betting patterns, before the race and also on Betfair’s in-running market. Hillsin was backed from a double-figure price on Tuesday down to around 2-1 the following morning, but drifted out to 11-1 before the off.
Perhaps most remarkably of all, Betfair’s results page suggests that even when Kitts was making ground in the straight with an apparent triple-handful, Hillsin did not trade any lower than 13 (or 12-1), in the live market. This number has been the subject of much interest and James Moore, the BHA’s principal betting investigator, suggested it was a mistake and that Hillsin was matched at 2.36, roughly 11-8.
It seems, though, to be not so much a mistake as a result of Betfair’s approach to calculating the in-running “low”, which as the firm’s spokesperson, Barry Orr, explains is based on bets with a minimum of £100 matched. Orr reports that £88 was matched on Hillsin at 2.36 in-running, with small amounts matched at other prices up to the official “low”. The simple fact that this race, and Hillsin in particular, seemingly attracted so little significant money when he looked the likeliest winner at the last is still something that will require a full explanation.
Kitts is awaiting his referral hearing and another unusual aspect of the case is that he has been given what amounts to an indefinite interim ban while the investigation continues. The BHA said last week it had been “agreed” Kitts would not take rides or even attend any racecourses “at this time” and while he is still able to visit licensed premises, to ride work in the morning for instance, this is arguably the only significant difference in his situation to being warned off without a hearing.
The BHA is always careful not to comment on an investigation, but this unusual move does feel at least like a suggestion that a serious charge, or charges, could be imminent.
Pontefract 2.10 Celestial Flight 2.45 Break Point 3.20 Purplepay 3.55 Kitai (nb) 4.30 Cosmic View 5.05 Hi Clare
Wolverhampton 2.30 Fleur De Mer 3.05 Value Added 3.40 American Rose 4.15 Sharp Power 4.50 Yaahobby 5.25 Admirable Lad 5.55 Crystal Dawn
Uttoxeter 5.35 A Different Kind 6.10 Shengai Enki 6.40 Walk Of No Shame 7.10 Tango Echo Charlie 7.40 Arbennig 8.10 Magic Mike
Brighton 6.00 Notre Maison 6.30 Vice Captain 7.00 Mrembo (nap) 7.30 Willing To Please 8.00 Honeymooner 8.30 Eight Mile
Were he to continue riding Kitts’s every move would be subject to intense scrutiny and, perhaps, real-world abuse to go along with the online pile-on since last Wednesday. On social media, he has – predictably – already been tried, found guilty and sentenced to life, while there is still so much around this race and ride that remains opaque.
It is true that even on the most generous possible reading of the situation – that Kitts horribly overdid his instructions to hold up his mount for a late run, or the “cock-up” theory for short – he is facing a significant ban. He was banned, after all, for a similar offence a couple of months ago so the penalty for a repeat will be severe and nothing undermines faith in the sport’s integrity like the sight of a horse clearly being prevented from running up to its best.
Yarmouth 1.45 Prisha 2.20 Good Humor 2.50 Harvanna 3.20 Sun Festival 3.50 Fillyfudge 4.20 Cariad 4.55 Level Up
Catterick 2.40 Newport Bay 3.10 Travel Candy 3.40 Platinum Girl 4.10 Cold Henry 4.40 Barrolo 5.10 King Of Europe 5.45 Liberty Breeze
Lingfield 3.00 Ticket To Alaska 3.30 Kanuhura 4.00 Doddie’s Impact 4.30 States 5.05 Ivory Madonna 5.40 Skalllywag Bay
Kempton 6.00 Tequilamockingbird 6.30 Works Of Art 7.00 Lion’s Pride 7.30 Wholeofthemoon 8.00 Streetstorm 8.30 Los Camachos (nap) 9.00 Wizarding
Bath 6.10 Lailah 6.40 Mintana 7.10 Fair And Square 7.40 Zaraza 8.10 The Jackler 8.45 Galactic Glow (nb)
The betting patterns alone, though, seem to suggest there may be more to it than that and the BHA’s investigation team will have a list of the Betfair accounts that were laying Hillsin last week. So before joining the rush to suggest a 22-year-old conditional rider with 94 rides to their name should be “banned for life”, it is probably best to wait for the investigation to conclude, for charges – if any – to be laid and a clearer idea of where the greater part of the blame for last week’s debacle of a race and ride should reside.
