Punters say ‘that’s the first time I’ve seen that happen’ after stewards forced into rare mid-race move

3 months ago 23

PUNTERS were left scratching their heads after the final fence in a race was omitted due to the ‘sun getting worse’.

Gentleman De Mee led his four rivals over the first obstacle in Sunday’s Dublin Chase at Leopardstown.

El Fabiolo continues his unbeaten march to Cheltenham

He's added the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase to his haul of recent wins#ITVRacing | @LeopardstownRC pic.twitter.com/o7RVrBdSva

— ITV Racing (@itvracing) February 4, 2024

But by the time the field came back round to jump the last it had been waved off by groundsmen standing on the track.

The move appeared to catch commentator Jerry Hannon off too, especially as the fence was deemed perfectly OK to jump four minutes earlier.

It’s not uncommon at all for fences and hurdles to be omitted during a race, but this is nearly always the result of one becoming damaged.

Usually it is decided before a race if an obstacle is to be omitted due to low sun.

But the rare mid-race decision to omit the last left punters watching the Grade 1 2m chase confused.

One said: “In the Dublin Chase they didn’t jump the last due to low sun, having jumped it first time round. Is this new? Who makes the decision – it can’t be the jockeys?”

Another commented: “That’s the first time I’ve seen that happen.”

One X post read: “Absolute shambles. How can a fence be safe to jump on the first circuit and not be two minutes later? It really is embarrassing.”

While another punter wrote: “So frustrated by the last fence omission that I left with three races to go.

“Races build to an exciting culmination, to see them swing off the bend and that skill be removed takes away massively from the races.”

The IHRB said in their stewards’ report that clerk of the course Lorcan Wyer made the call mid-race due to the ‘sun getting worse’.

The report read: “The Raceday Stewards received a report from the Clerk of the Course, Mr. L. Wyer, that he omitted the last fence in this race due to the sun as it steadily got worse during the race.”

But incredibly the same decision was made in the Chanelle Pharma Irish Champion Hurdle 35 minutes later.

Impaire Et Passe led the four-runner field over the first hurdle but it was omitted on the run-in, again due to the sun.

Fortunately the late calls made no impact on the results.

Willie Mullins’ star 2m chaser El Fabiolo obliterated rivals and was slashed to 4-9 for Champion Chase glory at next month’s Cheltenham Festival.

While State Man ran out a convincing winner of the Irish Champion Hurdle.

The victories were two of eight remarkable Grade 1 victories for Mullins last weekend.

The Closutton boss completed a clean sweep of all the top prizes, with Galopin Des Champs one of the standouts thanks to his rousing Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup triumph.