Ballydoyle Team Tactics

Anyone know what time it started at? I know it was due to start after lunch to give O'Brien time to be on the gallops this morning.
 
From what I could make out (may be mistakes because Chapman was going on and on)...

O'Donoghue admitted to his charge, O'Brien and Murtagh did not.

Murtagh admitted that his comments to the paper were correct but that nothing actually occurred during the race (i.e he did not shout out) and that his conversation before the race with O'Donoghue was a general one stating that if the horse (Red Rock Canyon) got tired he would not interfer with DOM.

O'Brien sounds like he got pretty heated (for him) at certain stages...when he was being questioned he said things like "thats nonsense, if your trying to get me/trick me into to saying these things just tell me what to say and I will"
 
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I find the whole saga very regrettable indeed. At a time when AOB is trying to set a world record for Group 1 wins in a season, and Johnny Murtagh is riding out of his skin, better than ever, having finally cast aside his demons, we have to put up with this rubbish.

The French have long had a rule that if a pacemaker is deemed to have deliberately interfered with any other runner, deliberate or not, all of the horses in the same ownership will be disqualified. Now, how many high profile races has this rule been apllied to? None I can readily recall. How long have pacemakers been used in France - I can remember when I was knee high to a grasshopper watching the Arc and seeing all those distinguishing sashes red and white sashes.

The rules here are less strict, granted, but does anyone really think the actions of Team Ballydoyle in the race in question inconvenienced any horse? Absolutely not. All the time I have been following racing there have been countless times when the pacemaker's jockey has looked over his shoulder to see where his better fancied mate is, and moved out to let him through. If other trainers have a problem, well why dont they run their own pacemakers? I am sure when you have jockeys who are mates and one is on a rank outsider that likes to lead, he will keep an eye out for his better fancied mate's horse and let him through if he hears a shout.

I do not think there was a problem until the BHA and media let it become one. With this, added to the very sour taste left in the mouth by the tirade against Jim Bolger over New Approach's running arrangements earlier in the season, there seems to be a lot of ill feeling developing between the two sides of the Irish sea, and it cannot be good for racing, and is based largely on envy.

And for the record, I am not Irish based I live in the East Midlands before I get accused of pro-Irish bias.
 
From The Sporting Life:

Aidan O'Brien, Johnny Murtagh and Colm O'Donoghue have have all been found guilty of breaching the rules of racing in relation to the Juddmonte International Stakes won by Duke Of Marmalade at Newmarket last month.
The Ballydoyle trio appeared at a British Horseracing Authority disciplinary panel hearing in central London today to answer charges relating to O'Donoghue's manouvre aboard Red Rock Canyon in the final four furlong of the Group One event.
The jockey moved the pace-setting Red Rock Canyon away from the rail allowing Murtagh aboard Duke Of Marmalade a clear passage.
O'Donoghue pleaded guilty to a breach of the 'team tactics' rules in that he made a manouvre in a race in the interest of another horse in common ownership.
The panel found Murtagh in breach of Rule 220 (iii) in that he acted in a manner prejudicial to the proper conduct of racing, while the panel ruled that O'Brien failed to give adequate instructions concerning the rules of racing.
 
Galileo said:
Murtagh admitted that his comments to the paper were correct but that nothing actually occurred during the race (i.e he did not shout out)
Click to expand...

I may be wrong, but I thought I remembered reading Teddy Beckett say that he was told that Murtagh did shout to O'Donoghue during the race?

Any word on the punishments yet?
 
Murtagh and O'Donoghue were handed seven-day riding bans by the disciplinary panel, while O'Brien was fined £5,000.
 
From The Times:


Julian Muscat

div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited {color:#06c;}Team Ballydoyle was last night adjudged to have deployed team tactics in the controversial renewal of the Juddmonte International Stakes at Newmarket last month. After a highly charged and occasionally stormy inquiry in London, Johnny Murtagh and Colm O'Donoghue, the two jockeys involved, were banned for seven days and Aidan O'Brien was fined £5,000.
More than four hours after they entered the building, the three men left the British Horseracing Authority's (BHA) headquarters without comment. O'Brien was ashen-faced, having stressed repeatedly throughout the inquiry that the concept of team tactics was anathema to all at Ballydoyle. “We would never want to win a race by default or cheating,” he said.
The panel ruled otherwise, although Tim Charlton, who chaired the inquiry, said that O'Brien's breach of the rules arose “from ignorance of his obligations” rather than any deliberate attempt at sharp practice. “We are not satisfied that he gave adequate, clear instructions [to Murtagh and O'Donoghue],” Charlton said.
Despite that, O'Brien will be furious at the slur on his name. As much could be gleaned from the series of heated exchanges he provoked with Graeme McPherson QC, acting for the BHA. Despite an admission from O'Donoghue that he was in breach of the rule, O'Brien's passionate defence of both his jockeys telegraphed his frustration at being summoned to the inquiry.


At one point he said to the barrister: “You are trying to make up a load of nonsense, Mr McPherson. I think the whole thing is a fantasy. I accept it if that's what Colm [O'Donoghue] said he did, but I don't agree with it. I just don't believe any of it...I'm so paranoid about [the question of team tactics] that I've probably told my jockeys about it a hundred times.”
O'Donoghue rode Red Rock Canyon, a pacemaker for the Murtagh-ridden Duke Of Marmalade, in the race in question. At the centre of the team tactics charge was that O'Donoghue deliberately manoeuvred his mount away from the rails, in the process ushering Murtagh through the gap and on to victory.
O'Donoghue was found guilty of “making a manoeuvre in the interests of another horse... from the same stable”, while Murtagh was adjudged to have behaved in a manner “prejudicial to the... proper conduct of horse racing.”
Both jockeys said that they were unaware of recent changes to the rules governing the use of pacemakers. O'Brien was effectively deemed guilty by association. All three can appeal within seven days of receipt of the official BHA notice, which is expected to be dispatched on Monday.
Before the hearing Murtagh agreed that the gist of comments he made after winning the race, and reproduced in The Sunday Times, were accurate. The most damning line comes when Murtagh instructs O'Donoghue: “When you get to the four-furlong marker, just ease off and give me a passage through.” However, Murtagh said yesterday that he had spoken when charged by adrenaline, and that there had been no such collusion.
At the time no action was taken by the Newmarket stewards even though the rule relating to pacemakers suggested that a breach had occurred.
The disciplinary panel is to release comprehensive reasons for reaching its verdict early next week, although Paul Struthers, the BHA's media relations manager, attempted to douse what are bound to be feelings of anger and injustice at Ballydoyle.
“In reaching their conclusions,” Struthers said, “the panel made it clear that there was no attempt to cheat; simply that the breaches occurred due to ignorance of the details of the rules in question.” O'Brien, for one, will not be placated so easily.
 
Aiden is as bad as Dwayne Chambers...Every G1 he has won is now worthless.
Re-write the record books.....cheat:D



Only joking.;)
 
So now we know, Aidan O'B doesn't have any say in how Coolmore horses run their races, he just leaves it to the jocks to make their own decisions.

richard
 
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