Redvers calls for no further repeats of blunder that ruled Atzeni out of Ascot

Sheikh Fahad's racing adviser David Redvers has stressed the BHA must work hard to prevent a repeat of the embarrassing blunder that caused the Qipco British Champions Day sponsors to find themselves without the services of Andrea Atzeni on Friday afternoon.

Atzeni, Qatar Racing's former number-one jockey, had been due to partner Lightning Spear in the Qipco-backed Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, only for him to be told by the BHA on the eve of Champions Day he was not allowed to take any mounts.

Atzeni was handed a two-day suspension at Longchamp on October 6, but the rider's representative was informed by a BHA employee he could defer the opening day of the ban. That was a mistake as Atzeni had already this year used his right to remove a single day of suspension that exists in France-Galop's rules.

Atzeni had been due to partner the Roger Varian-trained Sharja Bridge for boss Sheikh Mohammed Obaid in the Balmoral Handicap, who won, Thomas Hobson, who was runner-up for Willie Mullins in the Long Distance Cup, and the unplaced Lightning Spear, who represents Sheikh Fahad and his brothers, also the Champions Day sponsors.

Mickael Barzalona was booked for Lightning Spear only on Saturday morning.

David Redvers is disappointed Andrea Atzeni was initially told by the BHA he was free to ride at AscotCredit: Dan Abraham

Redvers said: "It was extremely disappointing due to the timing. Had we known Andrea was banned at the start of the week we could have chosen whoever was the next best available rider at that stage. A lot of jockeys we might have thought about had looked elsewhere by the time we had to make a decision.

"It's disappointing these administrative errors are able to creep in and that there aren't systems in place within the BHA to ensure they can't happen. While I have absolute sympathy with the people involved, something has to be done going forward to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"Whether it's because the BHA is under-resourced, or whether it's because the required technology is too expensive for the BHA at the moment, I don't know, but I'm sure all these things will be discussed shortly."

Redvers added: "In this day and age in a multi-million pound business it shouldn't be allowed to happen. However, I have no doubt Nick Rust and his team will be doing everything they can to rectify it because it clearly can't go on."

Willie Mullins: 'We booked Andrea for the ride very early'Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Mullins said: "We booked Andrea for the ride very early, so it was certainly a surprise. I thought we were playing under British rules and so therefore we should have applied British rules, but I haven't yet delved into the ins and outs of the situation.

"The next time someone has to be more on the ball, but whether that's the British or the French, I don't know.

"I was surprised and then disappointed it happened, but it's one of those things. I was lucky enough to have lots of jockeys ringing me, and the first one was Oisin Murphy, so we were able to get a very good replacement for Andrea – and it was better to lose the jockey than the horse."

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