Cam Hardie wins ban appeal as panel accepts interference was merely careless

Cam Hardie has successfully appealed against a four-day ban for what the raceday stewards at Newcastle deemed improper riding, when he finished second on Mondammej a fortnight ago. The jockey's contention that he was guilty only of careless riding was accepted by an appeal panel on Thursday and his punishment was reduced to a caution.

The BHA, represented by Charlotte Davison, had argued that the case for a finding of 'improper' was "clearly made out" by the footage. She noted Hardie had committed to his left at a point when his horse was behind the grey Major Jumbo, with the result that Woven, ridden by Connor Beasley and next to Mondammej at the time, was taken off his line.

Addressing the panel from the back seat of a car on his way to Newmarket, Hardie accepted he had made a misjudgement but added he had reason to expect a gap was about to open. He pointed out that Major Jumbo had been hanging across the course under the 7lb claimer John Shinnick and he expected him to continue to do so, but that Shinnick had managed to straighten his mount at a point when he was in front of Hardie.

1.45 Newcastle: full result and race replay

"From the two-pole, the grey horse is easy to see and as you can see he starts at least three horses to my left," Hardie said. "Once I noticed him drifting, I've started to get the revs up on my own horse, waiting for a gap, and I've just misjudged the timing of my run as the grey horse has been corrected.

"It was all just misjudgement of my room. It's a bit of a luck story, with hold-up horses."

Cross-examining, Davison said the jockey should have waited for a gap to appear. "I do know that now, ma'am, in hindsight," he replied. "I just misjudged it."

"But it's more than misjudgement," contended Davison. "When you start moving left, you know there's no gap."

"It's race-riding," Hardie answered. "You have to anticipate that the gap's going to open."

Mondammej and Cam Hardie are furthest right as Ejtilaab wins at Newcastle last monthCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Hardie accepted he had asked Beasley to move across and allow Mondammej room to get through. "It's a bit of jockeyship, you just say, 'Give an inch'. As you can see, Mr Beasley had no love."

The jockey was represented by the solicitor Rory Mac Neice, who said it was an instance of misjudgement falling well short of improper riding. "As Mr Hardie says, you have to be ready to take a gap when it comes," Mac Neice summed up. "It's a difficult judgement, the assessment is made in a split second."

The panel's reasons will be published in due course. Its verdict means there have been just five findings of improper riding in British Flat racing this year. By contrast, there were 11 findings of careless riding in the first week of July.

Read more from BHA hearings:

Four-month ban for box driver who drove into people and abused officials

Harry Fry avoids punishment as top-class chaser tests positive for arsenic

'I felt pretty intimidated' – Hollie Doyle complains about treatment by stewards

Aidan O'Brien fined £4,000 for 'million to one' mix-up over Fillies' Mile horses

Apprentice jockey loses appeal against suspension for 'serious misjudgement'

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