Two strides and a pixel in a dead-heat at Kempton last month were the subject of intense and prolonged analysis in front of the British Horseracing Authority’s disciplinary panel on Tuesday, and after nearly three hours of argument and counter-argument, the jockey Callum Shepherd got the result he was looking for as his appeal against an 18-day ban for failing to ride out to the line at Kempton last month was allowed.
Shepherd was appealing against a ban imposed for his ride on Thorntonledale Max in a seven-furlong handicap at the Surrey track on 21 August. His horse was in front two strides from the line, but Shepherd was much further out of his saddle than his opposing riders in the final moments of the race and his mount was joined by Flavour Maker, the favourite, on the line.
