The suspension has now been split into two parts of six months each--the first six-month term will start from Saturday, April 22, while the remaining hallf would be treated as a suspended sentence, to be invoked only if the jockey
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In a meeting held on Monday evening at the Mahalaxmi racecourse, the Board of Appeal (BoA) of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) granted partial relief to jockey P S Chouhan who was slapped a one-year suspension by the stewards of the race club three weeks ago for "not allowing a horse to run on merit". The suspension has now been split into two parts of six months each--the first six-month term will start from Saturday, April 22, while the remaining hallf would be treated as a suspended sentence, to be invoked only if the jockey is found guilty of a similar offence in the next three years.
Questionable ride
Early this month, jockey Chouhan, who is also the president of the Jockeys' Association of India (JAI), had attracted the one-year suspension for his ride last month astride Lord Commander in race number 230 of the on-going Mumbai racing season. The horse, starting as ante-post favourite, had seen wide upward drift in the odds and had finished fourth, while another horse, Fine Tune, carrying the same silks, had won the race after attracting smart money.
BoA speak
Adi S Narielwala, chairman, board of appeal, confirmed the development when speaking to mid-day. "We agreed with the stewards in that it was a case of not allowing the horse to run on merit, but decided to split it."
With western India racing already facing credibility issues, this relief offered to the erring jockey has already set the tongues wagging in racing circles, but strangely, the board of appeal members feel it is in fact a harsher punishment than the original one. "It is in fact a harsher punishment," Narielwala explained, "because there will be a Damocles' sword hanging over the jockey's head for three years after he returns."
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