'We're going to sleep on it' - Dashel Drasher camp not ruling out appeal against Stayers' demotion

Connections of Dashel Drasher have not ruled out an appeal after he was demoted from second to third in the Stayers' Hurdle at Cheltenham on Thursday.

The ten-year-old, sent off at 40-1 under Rex Dingle, was second past the post behind Sire Du Berlais with 9-4 favourite Teahupoo finishing a nose behind in third.

Those placings were reversed after the stewards deemed Dashel Drasher to have interfered with Teahupoo and Davy Russell when drifting left at the final hurdle.

"I saw the stewards and they've explained the decision," said Dashel Drasher's trainer Jeremy Scott. "The owners are understandably frustrated.

"My feeling is the stewards have made their decision. It's very harsh and it's probably one we're going to have to live with but we're going to sleep on it.

"The owners might be all for it at the moment but we need to let emotions settle down and have another look at the replay in the cold light of day.

"It's difficult as the owners were on such a high before receiving the news but when everybody reflects I'm sure we'll be even more thrilled with his performance.

"The horse has done brilliantly well, we've got to take that out of it, and if you'd asked me if I'd be happy with third when I left home I'd have snapped your hand off."

Explaining how the stewards reached their decision, Shaun Parker, the BHA's head of stewarding, told ITV Racing: "We took the line that Mr Russell was coming in to the final hurdle at the third panel of the obstacle. The movement to the left by Dashel Drasher before the jump and after it resulted in Teahupoo taking the jump at the fifth panel.

“We just felt that he was taken off his intended line at that crucial point in the race which made the difference considering on the run to the line Teahupoo finished under a wet sail and was beaten by a rapidly diminishing nose. We felt based on what happened at the last, it was a fair decision to amend the result.”

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