John Berry fails to persuade panel to intervene in controversial Pontefract race

John Berry has lost his appeal regarding a controversial recent race at Pontefract, in which his Dereham suffered interference in the closing stages from the Kevin Stott-ridden winner, Wynford.

An independent disciplinary panel spent two hours listening to arguments and reviewing footage of the race from various angles before concluding Stott was not guilty of dangerous riding and the evidence did not justify amending the placings.

Berry, who presented his own case without legal assistance, began by saying he would have been satisfied if he felt the raceday stewards had given due consideration to whether the placings should be altered. Instead, a quick decision was made that no in-depth inquiry was needed as to the placings, although the interference was considered and Stott was suspended for three days for careless riding.

In Berry's view, this was a consequence of the pressure under which stewards are obliged to operate. "The unwritten rule of raceday stewarding is that the next race must not be off late," he told the panel.

"That appears to be the most important rule of the day. It just puts everyone under pressure. You're rushing and when you're rushing, you make mistakes. The stewards are having to spread themselves very thin.

John Berry: ' The stewards are having to spread themselves very thin'Credit: Edward Whitaker

"It's 12 years since there's been a dangerous riding charge upheld. I don't think anyone believes there hasn't been any dangerous riding in Britain in the last 12 years. You'd be living in cloud cuckoo land if you thought that.

"But it appears to be an unwritten policy that everything is just classified as careless riding, without thinking. In my opinion, they were absolutely desperate to make sure the next race went off at 3.44pm rather than 3.45pm. Mr Stott was riding in it." In the event, the next race was off at 3.46pm.

"I actually think they're two very good stewards," Berry continued, "but I feel they felt themselves under pressure to wrap it up as quickly as possible. It clearly needed looking at. I think everyone would agree that it needs looking at."

Delivering the verdict, the panel chairman, James O'Mahony, said: "Mr Berry has made a number of good points. He is to be congratulated on the presentation of his case but I'm afraid we find against his submissions. As ever the video footage is the most eloquent evidence that one can see in situations of this kind."

O'Mahony said Stott's riding, while falling within the definition of careless, "did not fall far below the standard of the competent rider", which would be required for a finding of dangerous riding. He suggested the stewards could have been more clear about their reasons for not holding an inquiry into the placings, although he added this was not intended as a criticism of their work.

Berry complained at the time of "intentional interference" but had changed his stance by the time of the hearing, saying he had been able to consider footage of the race from various angles and did not in any case wish to approach the question of intent. But he said there was an obvious risk in Stott switching his whip to his left hand at a time when Dereham was on his right, between Wynford and the rail.

Stott said Wynford had not moved away from the whip at any point during the race and therefore he could not have foreseen that his mount would do so after he switched the whip to his left. Countering that, Berry argued Wynford had been moving to his right even while Stott was using the whip in his right hand. "Common sense says, if you hit him with your left hand, he may continue moving right," Berry said.

"If he goes right again, he will squeeze the other horse badly onto the rails. Faye McManoman [riding Dereham] wouldn't back out of a gap unless safety dictated she must. Some jockeys would, but she wouldn't. She was in a very dangerous situation there."

The panel is expected to publish full reasons for its decision next week.

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