170000 Folk at the Derby

I probably got carried away with the race lastnight and never paid much attention to the ride, but the ride the Jock gave the winner was fucking disgraceful.. He should have his license taken away

170000 people seen his arms flailing , sure I counted 25 full blown strikes the last 400m

What a fanny

Maybe disqualification the only way ?


MICHAEL OWEN has expressed huge frustration with the whip rules and questioned their fairness after Crowley's Law was defeated a short head by a rival whose rider was punished for using the whip above the permitted level.

Former England footballer Owen, now a prominent owner/breeder, was left aggrieved by the result of the Listed Betfred EBF Conqueror Stakes at Goodwood on Saturday when Don't Be pipped Crowley's Law, who is trained by Tom Dascombe from Owen's Manor House Stables in Cheshire and owned by Paul Crowley and Co, in the closing strides.

Winning rider Chris Catlin was banned for seven days and fined £300 for his use of the whip on the Sir Mark Prescott-trained Don't Be while Richard Kingscote, who partnered Crowley's Law, rode within the rules.

The result, Owen feels, suggests racing rewards those who do not operate inside the rules and he said: "Is racing the only sport where you get rewarded for breaking rules?

"People bend rules in all sports to get an advantage but how can it be that a horse gets beaten by the tiniest of margins with one jockey sticking to the rules and the other blatantly flouting them? The only punishment is the jockey in question [who broke the rules] gets a small fine and ban.

"What about the beaten horse? What about the owner and the near £23,000 he deserved to win? Should we be telling our jockey to break the rules to win at all costs? Nobody can tell me [Don't Be] would have beaten Crowley's Law had she not been hit over the permitted number [of strokes]."

Owen is not the only individual to have queried the whip rules, with Don't Be's trainer Sir Mark Prescott stating in the past that winners who break the rules should be disqualified.

Writing on his blog on SportsLobster, Owen added: "I don't blame the jockey, we'd all do exactly the same [to win]. Interestingly, Sir Mark Prescott, the winning horse's trainer, has been the most outspoken on the rules being so farcical."