'The stewards are going to brush this under the carpet and the rules need to change' - trainer blasts Dash debacle

Alice Haynes has called for a change to the BHA's rules after her horse Live In The Moment's stall was one of four to open later than the others in Saturday's Dash at Epsom.

Live In The Moment was sent off the 6-1 favourite for the £100,000 charge but trailed in 17th of 20 runners after his stall in 20, along with those numbered 16, 18 and 19, opened slightly later than the remainder.

Haynes is the latest trainer to speak out after David Evans, whose Lihou broke from stall 18 and trailed in last, labelled the incident a "farce" on Sunday.

"The stewards are going to brush this under the carpet and the rules need to change," Haynes said. "Hong Kong would just call them non-runners because realistically they were. They didn't start at the same time, so how is that fair?

"They talked a lot about little margins and showing different angles and they thought the other horses weren't at that much of an advantage, but it's a five-furlong sprint and these things have massive knock-on effects."

Live In The Moment: disadvantaged by his stall (20) opening late in the Dash

The trainer is not of the view the race should have been declared void, but instead believes those impacted should have been declared non-runners and punters refunded.

She said: "I don't want a void race, but they should be non-runners because they didn't get a fair chance. From a betting perspective they all need to start at the same time and they didn't.

"This should have been looked at in a different way and the stewards' comments about material advantages were very wrong."

She added: "If it was a 100-metre sprint with Usain Bolt and there was an error with the starting gun then they'd put a line through it."

Haynes had hoped Live In The Moment would run well enough at Epsom to enable him to run in the Buckingham Palace Stakes over seven furlongs at Royal Ascot, but will now hope he can do so at Catterick on Saturday instead.

Read more . . .

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