Inquiry room win to Rollout The Carpet
‘‘TELL your mother it wasn’t me that protested,’’ Wayne Pike whispered to his niece, Emma-Lee Browne, after Rollout The Carpet was confirmed winner of yesterday’s 1000 Guineas at Riccarton.
It was a picture you’d rarely see in the inquiry room after a group I race worth $300,000 – the owner of the beaten horse in a clinch with the winning trainer after the decision had gone against him.
But Pike was almost relieved that his jockey, Leith Innes, failed to persuade the judicial committee that his filly Waterford was cost the race by late interference from Rollout The Carpet.
‘‘I didn’t want to protest, that’s why I didn’t say anything,’’ Pike said, explaining his silence in the room when asked by the chairman for his view on the incident. ‘‘If it had been anyone else but my niece I would have fought tooth and nail.’’
But Pike’s reading of the film was hardly necessary for, as punters around the country waited with bated breath, it didn’t take long for most people in the room to decide the protest was destined to fail.
Innes argued he had held his line, pointing to the mown strips on the grass, claiming he had been bumped by Mark du Plessis and Rollout The Carpet in the last five or six strides.
While the bumping had not cost him momentum, he had been pushed out half a horse width, a crucial factor, given the winning margin was only a nose, he said.
Du Plessis countered there had been minimal, if any, contact and argued Innes had had the entire 450 metres of the home straight to beat him, and had not been able to.
‘‘Yes my horse has come out a little, but his horse has come in more. If anyone is to blame, it’s his horse.’’
Both Browne and co-owner John Cameron echoed his opinion, Cameron saying Rollout The Carpet was only resisting the inward movement by Waterford.
‘‘Innes was riding vigorously and never stopped and, if anything, Du Plessis was hampered.’’
Stewards called the incident a slight brush, not a bump, and said Innes’ riding was never compromised, a view shared by the committee in its decision.
A hugely relieved Browne said she was worried her hair was turning grey – the last time she won a group I race, the Diamond Stakes at Ellerslie, she also ended up in the inquiry room, losing the race after her filly made a dramatic late swerve.
Browne was unable to keep her father and training partner Jeff McVean informed about the inquiry – he was at the Tauranga races – as mobile phone service was jammed with so many people on course.
The inquiry result also saved some embarrassment among Canterbury Jockey Club officials, who began their presentation ceremony to Browne several minutes before the siren sounded – a sound which sent the trainer pale.
Ironically, Browne said Rollout The Carpet and Waterford had been constant companions for the last week, sharing a truck from Cambridge to the airport, the same flight south, accommodation at Brian Court’s Lincoln stable, and even morning gallops.
Cameron said he could not speak more highly of the team effort that saw the filly get to Riccarton in top shape.