POSTPONED was very good in winning the Juddmonte International at York on Wednesday. He was up against it too. Roger Varian’s stable was going through a bit of a lull going into the race, and Postponed himself was racing for the first time since he won the Coronation Cup in early June, having side-stepped the King George because of a respiratory infection. Also, going into the race, his record over 10 furlongs read 4323, while his record over 11 furlongs or further read 11311111. Now you can add a 1 to his record over 10.

There was an anomaly, however, in the manner in which Postponed drifted to his right through the final furlong, thereby impeding Mutakayyef as he tried to deliver his challenge. You can easily argue that Postponed was the best horse in the race, that it may have been that Mutakayyef just didn’t have the energy to go past him anyway, competing over the longest distance over which he had ever competed.

NO CHANCE

But he wasn’t given a chance. People pointed to the fact afterwards that Postponed’s rider Andrea Atzeni had his whip in his ride hand, and that Postponed drifted to his right despite that. That is no argument. A rider of Atzeni’s ability can easily get a horse to go to his right while he has his whip in his right hand.

Also, Postponed drifted from the centre of the track to the stands rail. You could have fit eight horses easily between Postponed and the stands rail before he started to drift. Atzeni checked subtly to his right at least twice inside the final furlong, checking to see where Mutakayyef was, and at no point did he try to correct his horse.

It’s race-riding, it was a good ride from Atzeni in the circumstances, it was a good ride under the rules as they stand, but to say that it ‘probably didn’t affect the result anyway’ and move on is not enough. The fact that Atzeni got two days for careless riding means that something was amiss. Mutakayyef was challenging when Postponed edged across him. We don’t know for sure that the Sheikh Hamdan horse would not have mounted a serious challenge.

Also, you can easily argue that, had Postponed not hampered Mutakayyef, William Haggas’ would have finished second, in front of Highland Reel, who got up on the far side, unhindered, to take second place. So if Postponed’s meanderings prevented Mutakayyef from achieving his best possible placing, should the stewards not have taken action? Is it correct that you can implement the letter of the law on some occasions and employ common sense on others?