Henry Cecil has reportedly lodged an appeal for the first time in his 32 years as a trainer by questioning the decision to disqualify Double Crossed from first place in the Arena Racing Oaks Trial at Lingfield on Saturday. The Newmarket trainer made his decision after watching a video of the race given to him by his stable jockey Richard Quinn.
Double Crossed beat Pat Eddery's mount Silver Grey Lady by a neck, but following an inquiry the stewards reversed the placings although they deemed that Quinn had done nothing wrong on Prince Khaled Abdulla's filly. Speaking to the Racing Post, Cecil insisted: "After looking at the tape, I have advised the Prince that he should appeal. We wouldn't do so without really good reason, but I played the tape eight or nine times when Richard came back and I now think the decision was wrong. My filly might have cut in a bit further down the course with the other one (Silver Grey Lady), but at the time of the incident she's been following a straight line as you can see from the shadow cast by the running rail. There's masses of racing room and my filly keeps as straight as a die. I've been trying to come up with a reason why I shouldn't appeal but there isn't one." (PA)
Filed by Shane Murray
