The Gold Cup and Grand National winning trainer Gordon Elliott and jump racing's most high profile young jockey Jack Kennedy have won their appeals against 'non-Trier' penalties imposed on them at Down Royal earlier this month.
Elliott was fined €2,000 and Kennedy banned for five days by the Down Royal stewards after Suitor finished third in a maiden hurdle. The horse was banned for 42 days under Rule 212 which relates to ‘non-triers.’
On Monday morning, at Turf Club headquarters, a referrals committee panel, chaired by the former Supreme Court judge, Joe Finnegan, allowed the appeals against those penalties after concluding they could not be satisfied the rules had been breached.
“We didn’t do anything wrong so we’re happy,” said Elliott who tops the trainer’s table in Ireland this season. “It’s been a bit of a waste of a morning since we’re very busy at home.”
Elliott said he was relieved for Kennedy, the 18-year-old rider who has shot to fame in the last couple of season.
The trainer had been in America for the Breeders Cup when Suitor ran at Down Royal and was allowed to give evidence to the appeals panel on Monday. In his evidence he expressed his satisfaction with Kennedy’s ride and insisted Suitor could not have finished closer than third.
“It would have been a disaster for Jack because he might have missed the Betfair Chase, the Troytown, or whatever,” Elliott said after the appeal. He also indicated Suitor, who was having his first race over jumps at Down Royal, is likely to run again in the next couple of weeks.
The hearing took almost an hour and a half and Kennedy, who was present, was not allowed give evidence to the appeals panel who instead examined the transcript of the evidence he gave the original enquiry.
