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I think this is a lot more borderline than most are saying here.
When the head on is slowed down you can clearly see No Retreat first go slightly to his left, then right (towards Brave Call) and then left again. Three movements (directions) in very quick succession. It is therefore very possible Doyle got unbalanced and as a result put his whip down while the horse made its last (and biggest) movement to the left – which cost him the race. No Retreat running very green on only his second start.
tbh Although yes, Doyle was lucky to get away with it. imo It is one that could have gone either way. Had I been a steward am not sure which way I’d have gone. Under the Rules Of Racing I can see why the stewards let it go.
Value Is EverythingCan’t have his explanation as the reason the race was lost, the horse had already shifted both left and right with him about 100 yrds or so earlier but did he drop his hands and stop riding….no he simply switched his whip hand to correct the horse all whilst continuing to ride him out
He clearly thought he had done enough to get up and win the race cosily and so dropped his hands (which horses take as a signal that no more effort is required so they will naturally slow down rather quickly) but that just happened to conincide with the horse also shifting to his left (as most horses do at Windsor when they see the course turning pretty sharply left) and that combination was enough for him to lose the race.
The 100% undeniable fact is that if Doyle had continued to ride his horse (even just under hands and heels) through the finishing line he would have won the race. It is jockey error and like Seb Sanders said, 28 days is the entry point for that particular offence – it is a harsh penalty for a reason……to ensure that you do ride your horse out across the finishing line.
My main worry is that by the Stewards bottling doing their actual job and banning him, they have now created somewhat of a precedent (especially at Windsor) and a grey area for other jockeys to use the same ‘reasoning’ when (not if) a similar incident happens in the future.
No excuse for not riding your horse out over the finish line in a tight finish (obviously not applicable if you are well clear of a rival) and nobody is saying that you have to use the whip to do this as a simple and gentle hands and heels effort would be enough to show that you are abiding by the rules of racing.
To say Doyle got lucky here would be a total understatement…..and I do think his seniority did play a part in the Stewards decision because if a less experienced jockey than Doyle had come back in giving that reason, I am pretty sure a ban would have been handed down.
Is it time to take it out of the hands of the on course stewards and to a UK based senior stewards to access at a later date , in my eyes it’s a 28 day ban , very straight forward he didn’t ride out , there’s plenty evidence there to back it up
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Here is a longer clip of the Seb Sanders interview.
Two points not in the earlier X clip:
Martin Kelly finds a rule whereby Doyle could have been banned for 10 days. Sanders disagrees and maintains it was a 28 day offence.
Personally I think 10 days would have been satisfactory. I don’t think the incident was as bad as Cosgrave at Chelmsford last year or the recent case at Bath. But Doyle did stop riding and lost a race he should have won. It simply is not credible to give him no ban and makes the stewards look incompetent, gullible and weak.
Sanders and Kelly also say the point made earlier in the thread: jockeys should not be in stewards enquiries.
‘Martin Kelly finds a rule whereby Doyle could have been banned for 10 days. Sanders disagrees and maintains it was a 28 day offence.’
It has been noted that one of the stewards is a law graduate with a postgrad in sports law. Shouldn’t have been too hard for someone with those qualifications to find those rules you would think.
Just to say that the reason horses veer left close home at Windsor isn’t entirely, or imo mainly, because of the bend. That’s always been there, but very few horses used to deviate off a straight line back in the 70s and 80s when I was a regular at the track.
If you walk out onto the course and look down past the winning line, what you see is that the horses are running straight towards a large brick building, built about 20 years ago to provide hospitality on the ground floor and facilities for owners and trainers on the first floor. I reckon that’s what they are shying away from, the same as we would if we were heading for a brick wall at 35mph!
A similar thing happened yesterday in the cycling in Spain – the latest in a series of riders celebrating too early, and then getting mugged on the line…..
No angst from the media, or frothing at the mouth from fans – and no calls for bans.
The punishment is losing the race…..
The punishment for Doyle is losing the race.
The punishment for punters is losing their money when they should have won.
I don’t agree with some of the more hysterical comments online that Doyle should have received 3,6 or even 12 months. But to receive no penalty when he has lost a race he would have won if he had ridden out to the line is a poor decision by the stewards.
10 days would have been acceptable. I don’t see how Doyle could have had any complaints.
Don’t really see how Doyle has a defence even if the Stewards did fall for it. Watch the replay with your own eyes, the horse goes left once Doyle stop riding. And Doyle’s excuse of horse being unbalanced happened once he stopped riding. If he carries on doing what he’s doing before that in the last furlong i.e. riding the horse as normal without dropping his hands the horse wins the race. He has cost the horse from winning the race by dropping his hands. So that should then lead to a ban.
I have not seen it but Callum Shepherd failed to ride out to the line in the last at Kempton tonight. It finished as a dead heat when he should have won outright.
He has been given 18 days, by a panel which included Cody Watkins and Kelly O’Brien.
Apparently Rachel Candelora was heard to joke in the RTV studio “he should say it hung this way and that, like James Doyle did”.
Interesting comparison with cycling.
Let’s face it, the vast majority of people watching a horse race are doing so because they’ve had a punt, or at the very least have punting on their mind for future bets. They deserve consistent stewarding.
Yes people do bet on cycling but not nearly in the same numbers.
I’m only an occasional viewer of it so I can’t comment on how controversial incidents are handled, and I know they happen in sprint finishes for example. Can those who do punt on cycling at least expect officials to apply the rules consistently? For all I know maybe it’s a problem there too, I’d be interested to know.
I have just watched the closing stages via the RTV app.
I think Shepherd stops riding about one stride from the post and is unlucky to get caught.
I believe Doyle’s ride was worse because he stopped riding some distance before the line. And he lost a race he should have won, whereas at least Shepherd dead heated (which is presumably why he received 18 days rather than 28).
I don’t see how Watkins and O’Brien can deem Shepherd’s ride worthy of a penalty but Doyle’s to be OK.
If he appeals he will lose. Although he only stopped riding a stride or 2 before the line, that’s enough to change the result from an outright win to a dead heat.
No sympathy with any jockey who doesn’t ride through the line. They need to learn that the race finishes at the line, not x yards before it. It seems to be ingrained culture to ease horses down in order to try and get a better handicap mark, give a horse an easier race, or some other false reason.
Unless there is evidence of an injury being sustained during the race there is no excuse.
Despite the harsh penalties it seems the message isn’t getting through.
Perhaps summary execution in front of the stands after the last race could be trialled?
Would they do it again? NO.....and you've got to look a long way back for anything else.
I agree Shepherd deserves his ban. But if I was in his shoes, I would feel a little bit aggrieved after Doyle got away with it just two days earlier.
Ride out to the line. How difficult is it?!
The culmination of every race involves the principals putting the metaphorical gun to the horse’s head. They can’t afford to leave this climax to the very last 10-15 yards before the line. Once the question has been asked jockeys out of respect for their mounts know when it’s time to ease down. Sometimes this can happen a stride or two before the line. Doyle got caught out by a freak movement.
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