ESTIMATE KICKED OUT
Queen’s mare loses second place and her £80,000 prize
The Queen’s talented mare estimate has been formally stripped of her second place in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in June after testing positive for Morphine.
Royal racing manager John Warren issued a statement thanking the BhA for its ‘thorough, fair investigation’ while royal sources indicated the Queen will not seek compensation for the lost £80,625 runner-up purse.
Promoted to second in the race won by Leading Light is Missunited while Michael Owen-owned Brown Panther moves up to third.
Yesterday’s decision was a formality after feed company Dodson & horrell admitted that the positive tests produced by estimate and six other horses were a result of one of their products being contaminated by poppy seeds. Trainers Barry hills and Gay Kelleway, who have both lost winners, have indicated they will seek compensation f or their owners. Dodson & horrell say the matter is in the hands of their insurers.
But the company look like being spared by far the biggest pay-out.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: ‘We would never comment on the Queen’s private finances.’
Another source said that the money had never been in the Queen’s possession, having been held by Weatherbys, the firm responsible for distributing prize money. ‘The money was frozen as soon as the issue arose,’ they said.
estimate’s trainer Sir Michael Stoute, whose Russian Realm was
also disqualified from an unplaced run at Royal Ascot, was the only trainer to attend the London hearing.
He said: ‘We knew that, as the rules stand, Estimate would get disqualified. But I did not get fined so I can buy lunch for a few friends.
‘No apportion of blame was attached. Dodson & Horrell admitted that their product was contaminated.’
Asked how he felt when he was told the royal mare was involved, he added: ‘It spoiled my day, put it that way.’
For the BHA, Jamie Stier, Director of Raceday Operations and Regulation, said: ‘ The rules are clear on the matter of disqualification. Once a horse has been found to have had a prohibited substance in its system on raceday then disqualification of the horse must be the result.’
Estimate, the Gold Cup winner in 2013, has run three times since testing positive winning the Doncaster Cup earlier this month. Plans to run in the Melbourne Cup have been shelved and she will retire after one more run, most likely on Champions Day at Ascot on October 18.
JOCKEY Silvestre de Sousa will miss the Champions Day fixture after being hit with a 21- day whip-related ban. De Sousa was referred to the BHA after falling foul of the rules on Mill Reef Stakes winner Too cool for-school at Newbury on Saturday Seven days of the ban have been deferred.