Winters lodges appeal against €6,000 non-trier fine

Mick Winters, who was hit with a €6,000 fine under the non-trier rule at Cork on Sunday after the stewards deemed the stable’s Churchtown Glen had not run on his merits, lodged an appeal on Tuesday.

It was the first time the stewards have used part A (i) of the newly drafted rule 212, which also saw Barry John Foley issued with a 21- day ban as well as Churchtown Glen being suspended for 90 days. Foley has also appealed but only against the severity of the suspension he received.

Rule 212 A (i) states that: “Any person involved in the running and/or riding of a horse in a race who deliberately or recklessly causes or permits a horse to run other than on its merits shall be guilty of an offence under this sub-rule.”

Speaking on Tuesday, Winters said: “We've lodged our appeal. There's no point in hiding under the carpet especially when we're happy that we did nothing wrong on the day.

“In fact, we were delighted with the horse as he’s a bit of a slow learner and we were left very deflated after he ran poorly the time before at Clonmel. There looked to be more promise about how he ran at Cork.

“We have no reason not to be trying to win races and we certainly didn’t go out with the intention of not winning at our local track. I've only ever been in front of the stewards once before and that was almost 20 years ago and, to be honest, I wasn’t sure why I was in there at all on Sunday.

He added: “Obviously the stewards on the day have a job to do, and it can be hard at times for them to make their decisions, but if they had a bit more information available to them it may be helpful.

“This horse is not straightforward and we’ve had to do a lot of work with him to get him jumping properly and he also hangs badly. You can always find where you lost a length or two after a race is run but that’s what you call hindsight.

“If I’m honest, everybody around our neck of the woods is shocked at the extent of the fine we've received and we'll have to fight our corner.”

It is understood that the appeals are likely to take place at the Turf Club on the evening of Wednesday, November 29, although nothing has yet been confirmed.