THERE was drama in the first race at Ayr when five of the seven finishers, including the first four home, were disqualified for taking the wrong course.
Victory went to the Lucinda Russell-trained Etxalar, the mount of Campbell Gillies, who crossed the line 16 lengths clear of Easter Vic, with Rowdy Rampage in third and Mrs Burke a distant fourth.
However, the race was awarded to the fifth home, Seraphim, ridden by Graham Lee, with Grand Opera, who originally finished seventh and last, awarded the runner-up spot. They were the only two to have gone the correctway.
The problem was caused at the fifth-last hurdle, which had to be bypassed because amatuer Richard Johnson was receiving medical attention from a fall on the first circuit. The leaders duly negotiated the diversion around the stricken rider, but then failed to cut back in, on to the hurdle course before the permanently-sited 'H' marker, which has to be kept on horses' left.
The stewards took the view that the errant jockeys made no attempt to take the correct course immediately after the diversion.
Winning jockey Gillies said: "Because there was rider on the ground, there wasn't enough time to get back in before the marker."
Graham Lee: knew the rules
Graham Lee, however, thought differently. "I felt there was enough room. I knew they'd gone wrong and I knew that if the rules of racing were adhered to, I would get the race."
Jim Lambe, trainer of Seraphim, said, "I hadn't been aware of what had happened out there, but as soon as Graham came back in, he said he'd get the race. He's a smart jockey."
Ten-day penalties were handed out to Gillies, Holly Curran, James O'Farrell, James Reveley and Harry Haynes, while Tom Messenger, having been found to have been carried out onhis mount, Mrs Burke, was suspended for three days for continuing, when knowing he'd taken the wrong course.
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