Havlin suspension overturned as Kevin Blake brands decision 'shameful'

A decision by the independent disciplinary panel of the BHA to quash a ten-day careless riding ban given to Robert Havlin after he was involved in a serious incident on Swift Verdict at Yarmouth on July 22 has been branded "shameful" by ITV pundit Kevin Blake, who added that it "sets a dangerous precedent".

Blake said: "You can argue the toss about what the appropriate penalty should have been, but for them to say that no riding offence was involved is quite remarkable to me. If that incident was played out in any other civilised racing jurisdiction in the world, how many of them would have ruled that there was no offence?

"For me the original ten-day ban fitted in with what the BHA have been doing lately, although for me it was too lenient. But this sort of marker from the appeals panel promotes a win at all costs attitude in racing. It just doesn't offer a deterrent, and incentivising jockeys to put an emphasis on keeping straight is what it should be all about.

"It's quite depressing. You don't need to be Nostradamus to see where it's going to end up. Someone is going to get killed or mangled."

He added: "My views have been endorsed by plenty of top people, including trainers and jockeys, and if the BHA are seeing all of this and making a conscious decision to leave things as they are it puts both jockeys and horses at risk and opens the door for an absolute PR nightmare."

Kevin Blake (left): has criticised the decision to overturn Havlin's suspensionCredit: Caroline Norris

The appeal was held remotely before a panel chaired by William Norris QC, and Havlin was represented by Rory Mac Neice, who enjoys an enviable strike-rate.

Havlin said: "The stewards on the day have a hard job, whereas we had time to dissect the incident over near enough three hours. We watched it from every angle, again and again, and Rory did a great job explaining everything.

"The interference was bad, and both lads [Tom Marquand and Harry Bentley] were lucky not to be brought down, but because it looks really bad doesn't mean somebody must have done something really bad."

He added: "The whole incident only took two seconds and I had literally half a second to react, but up until that point my horse had kept straighter than any other horse in the race. He'd only edged slightly left, but then when he felt Tom's horse [Dreaming Blue] on the inside he took a step in. As for my right hand drive, with blinkers on he wouldn't even have seen me waving the whip as he wouldn't be able to see to the side or behind."

Rewatch the Yarmouth race here

Full written reasons will follow in due course, but in his summing up Norris said: "We think this was a case of accidental interference. We don’t accept the BHA’s submission that Mr Havlin’s horse was drifting significantly left over any distance in advance of the interference.

"We think if there was any drift to the left, it was marginal and certainly not such as to alert Mr Havlin to any reason for pulling his stick through and not such as to alert him to any possibility that Swift Verdict might suddenly step left, as he did.

"The interference was indeed serious, it could have had terrible consequences but mercifully it did not. But in terms of riding we think Mr Havlin did everything a competent and responsible rider could do and the interference was the result of true accident, which happens in fractions of a second when a horse steps in that way. We don’t think he can be criticised as riding carelessly."

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