Charlie Fellowes confirmed to The Sun on Monday that connections of Shes Perfect, first past the post in yesterday's Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, plan to appeal her subsequent demotion by the stewards.
The daughter of Sioux Nation sparked jubilant scenes at ParisLongchamp when holding off Zarigana by a nose in Sunday's Classic, but that elation soon turned to despair for Fellowes and the almost 60 syndicate owners in attendance when the outcome of the stewards' enquiry was announced.
Speaking to the Nick Luck Daily Podcast on Monday, before later confirming his intention to appeal, Fellowes did not dispute the view of the stewards that Shes Perfect had caused interference to Zarigana when drifting left in the straight. Instead, the basis of any future appeal is likely to focus on the actions of jockey Mickael Barzalona, who appeared to strike Zarigana “12 times” with his hand after dropping his whip in the straight.
“One thing that I have a problem with, and that we will raise in an appeal, if it gets to that, is the way that Zarigana was ridden after the interference,” said Fellowes.
“The interference happens over a furlong out. Ryan [Moore on Exactly] pushes Mickael's horse across the track. Mickael pulls his stick through to his left hand, he gives her two hits, and he then drops it. That drop has absolutely nothing to do with the interference, it was just a pure jockey error. He then puts both hands back on the reins, because his filly starts to hang right, and he hits her with his hand 12 times down the neck.
“I don't believe that is riding within the rules of racing because, if you're allowed to do that, every jockey in the weighing room would go to the limit–in France it's four, in England it's seven–they'd put their stick down and then they'd starting hitting it with their hand as encouragement. I don't believe any of the rules-makers, in France or in England, believe that is what should happen once you've used your limit with the stick.”
He continued, “In France, four hits is the limit, anything between five and nine is a ban and a fine, and anything over nine is disqualification. If they decide that the hand counts as hitting a horse, which I believe it does, then she should be disqualified. He wasn't slapping the horse down the neck to give it a pat and say well done. He was slapping it down the neck to get her to go faster and I don't believe that is allowed.
“They're in danger of setting a precedent here that they don't want. Nothing was said on the day and that's where I want clarification. I don't want clarification on the interference or anything like that. That is not going to get overturned. I agree that there was interference and I agree that the margin at the line was incredibly small. I don't have a problem with that. What I'm not sure about is the way that their filly was ridden from the moment Mickael dropped his stick to the winning line.”
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