Circus Maximus Keeps Moulin Win

An appeal hearing at the France Galop headquarters on Thursday saw Circus Maximus (Ire) (Galileo {Ire} keep his victory in the Sept. 8 G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. The connections of Romanised (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), runner-up by a nose, had contested the result and filed an appeal of the stewards decision to leave Circus Maximus up, arguing that their rival had drifted in the final furlong and a half and taken Romanised off his racing line. They also argued that a bump caused Romanised to change leads at a crucial stage before he re-rallied to just miss the win.

Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore, trainer and jockey of Circus Maximus, attended the hearing along with Alan Cooper, racing manager to part-owner the Niarchos Family. Attending on behalf of Romanised were his trainer and jockey Ken Condon and Billy Lee as well as Rupert Pritchard-Gordon representing owner Robert Ng.