A young jockey has been referred to the BHA over a controversial ride for which his mount was banned for 40 days.
Dylan Kitts, 22, rode Hillsin to finish third in a handicap hurdle for conditional jockeys at Worcester on Wednesday.
But the stewards launched an immediate inquiry after watching the horses travel strongly down the home straight “without appearing to ever be asked for its finishing effort”.
Hillsin crossed the line just a length and a quarter behind the winner, having gone off an 11-1 chance. The Racing Post’s in-running comment described the run as “eye-catcher”.
Many punters were not impressed. “I’m not going to lie, that doesn’t look good at all,” one said.
Another wrote on Twitter, “I backed the horse at 15-2, thinking it was a short price for a horse with little form.
“Had no idea it had been 3’s this morning, its races like this that make you fall out of love with racing.”
Kitts told the stewards his instructions were to “drop Hillsin out early, keep a good hold of his head and take his time, before mounting a late challenge”.
He said the horse settled well and found a nice jumping rhythm, and had been able to make ground easily mid-race when the pace steadied up.
But he also claimed Hillsin “made a respiratory noise” towards the end of the back straight, which continued on “several more occasions”, and also hung badly right-handed, which restricted his ability to be more vigorous in the home straight.
Hillsin’s trainer Chris Honour confirmed the instructions but also expressed concern over the manner the horse was ridden from jumping the last hurdle.
He said he had emphasised to Kitts that the horse needed to be held together for as long as possible based on his run two starts back for a, a different yard.
