VERSE LEGER JOY FOR RALPH

TRAINER Ralph Beckett has expressed relief at the decision to reinstate his demoted St Leger winner Simple Verse and taken a swipe at the Doncaster stewards who had demoted her 11 days earlier. She was the first filly to win the Doncaster race for 23 years but was demoted after a stewards’ inquiry into interference during the closing stages, with Aidan O’Brien-trained Bondi Beach being handed the win. After almost three hours of evidence yesterday, an appeal panel at the BHA reinstated Simple Verse. The panel, chaired by Tim Charlton, QC, concluded that while there had been two incidents of interference between the two horses at the two-furlong-pole and half a furlong out, ‘the cumulative effect of the two incidents had little or no effect on the result’. The verdict meant Beckett now has a third Classic to add to his two wins in The Oaks but there was little evidence of celebration in his tone. Beckett said: ‘This has not been a lot of fun. To have it taken away was sickening at the time. Justice has been done but to do it like this is not how you want to do it. ‘I have been lucky to train three Classic winners, but I am never going to feel the same way about this one. I have no sympathy for the Doncaster stewards. They completely ignored Bondi Beach’s role in the interference.’ In some heated exchanges with Bondi Beach’s jockey Colm O’Donoghue, Graeme McPherson, QC for Simple Verse owner Sheik Fahad, argued the Irish jockey was as responsible for the more serious interference two furlongs out as Simple Verse’s jockey Andrea Atzeni. Ultimately, the decision under British racing’s rules was still highly subjective — even successful McPherson termed it a ’50-50 call’. FORMER champion jockey Ryan Moore, out since July with a neck injury, is closer to a comeback after riding for Sir Michael Stoute yesterday.