STOP START
Seven Cheltenham jockeys banned for ‘misconduct’ as ’embarrassing’ false start controversy rocks Festival
A legendary former jockey blasted the 'embarrassing' situation
SEVEN Cheltenham jockeys have been banned for 'misconduct' after an 'embarrassing' false start controversy hit the Festival.
Punters have hit out at the stop-start nature of some of the races, with jockey Keith Donoghue blasting a 'lack of communication'.
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Donoghue was among those banned after his win in the Cross Country on Stumptown yesterday.
Sean Flanagan on third-place finisher Vanillier and JJ Sleven on Busselton were also suspended for 'misconduct'.
Stewards reported the three Irish riders 'had not approached the tape at a walk or jig-jog thereby causing a false start'.
Donoghue and Flanagan were given one-day bans while Slevin got two because it was his second offence in the past 12 months.
Later on the Cheltenham card the Grand Annual saw four more jockeys pick up suspensions.
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The stewards' report read: "The Starter reported that Jordan Gainford, the rider of American Mike, Danny McMenamin, the rider of Nells Son, Conor Stone-Walsh, the rider of The King Of Prs, Darragh O’Keeffe, the rider of Jasko Des Dames, and Derek Fox, the rider of Primoz, had not approached the tape at a walk or jig-jog thereby causing a false start.
"Gainford, McMenamin, Stone-Walsh, O'Keeffe, Fox and the Starter were interviewed and shown recordings of the incident.
"Gainford, McMenamin, O’Keeffe and Fox were suspended for one day for misconduct at the start.
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"Stone-Walsh’s explanation that his mount locked on and despite his best efforts, was difficult to restrain from charging the tape, was accepted."
Legendary trainer Peter Scudamore, who trains alongside partner Lucinda Russell, slammed the starter in a Facebook post.
He wrote: "Cheltenham is fantastic but there are problems.
"The starts are an embarrassment and taking the punters for granted.
"The attitude of the stewards is to sweep the dirt under the carpet and fine the jockey, it is not solving the problem.
"There is no consistency, sometimes the horses are let go moving forward then another time they are stopped.
"It is not possible to stop some of these moving horses."
Punters watching at home were quick to voice their opinions too - on the day the sport remembered late jockey Michael O'Sullivan with two poignant winners.
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One said: "How many false starts? This is embarrassing."
While another summed it all up as 'The Cheltenham 2025 False Start Festival'.
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