'How can it be his fault?' - bans given out as two runners run from wrong stalls

Monday: Chelmsford

Eagle-eyed fans on social media spotted a discrepancy as the 12 runners jumped out of the stalls for the 6f novice with two horses in the wrong places.

The Stuart Williams-trained 80-1 outsider Lord Cherry was supposed to be berthed in stall two, but instead got off to a slow start when rearing in stall four under Luke Catton, with the Richard Hannon-trained 2-1 joint-favourite Sixth Street and Kieran O’Neill jumping out of stall two instead.

After the race, the stewards held an inquiry into how the unintentional swap unfolded with both jockeys given a one-day ban.

Catton reported that Lord Cherry, who finished down the field in ninth, was slowly away while Sixth Street fared better in third.

It was not all bad for Williams as his other runner in the race, the Marco Ghiani-ridden Shanko, made a winning debut to provide the Newmarket trainer with a first two-year-old winner of the year on the all-weather.

Williams said of the error regarding his other runner: "Luke was the last one in, so how can it be his fault?

"I don't want to bash the BHA too much, as they're having trouble from all sides at the moment, so hopefully they'll learn from it.

"We'll just put it down to one of those things and we'll move forward. Luke's only just moved to me and he's only learning as he's a 7lb claimer.

Watch a replay of the error here

"Shanko had been going nicely at home but you never know what you're going to get when you come to the races the first time, but he did everything fairly professionally."

Williams and Shanko's owners Opulence Thoroughbreds were denied a double on the day as Huraiz and Jason Hart chased home the Rae Guest-trained Fauvette under David Probert in the feature 6f handicap.

Delight for Doyle

After the unusual drama in the stalls, spectators were treated to a much more familiar sight as Hollie Doyle took the last three races on the card.

Doyle first guided the Richard Spencer-trained Champagne Supanova to a second win of the year in the 6f handicap before supplying John Best and Karen Jewell with their third winner as a training partnership aboard Berrahri.

Peripeteia then justified odds-on favouritism to complete a 124-1 treble for Doyle and offer some compensation to trainer George Boughey, whose Shurut had just been touched off by a short head, again ridden by Doyle, in the 7f claiming stakes by the Charlie Hills-trained Cephalus.

Results, replays and analysis

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The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday