Timeform critical of 'draconian' Shepherd ban

Shepherd's mount in the concluding seven-furlong handicap, Thorntonledale Max, was joined on the line by Flavour Maker who forced a dead-heat (replay below).

The stewards deemed that Shepherd had not ridden out to the line and suspended him as he had "failed to take all reasonable and permissible measures on a horse which would have finished out-right first".

That assertion is disputed by Timeform and the report read: "A controversial ending to a run-of-the-mill 0-70, the main talking point being the 18-day suspension handed out to Callum Shepherd who, in the opinion of the stewards, failed to ride out to the winning post on Thorntonledale Max, one of the horses that dead-heated for first place, a decision that looks harsh enough on the face of it given the proximity of his actions to the finishing line and the lack of momentum lost, but all the more so on the back of James Doyle escaping any censure for a similar event at Windsor 2 evenings previously."

At Windsor on Monday, James Doyle's mount No Retreat was headed close home in the mile-and-a-quarter maiden after the jockey appeared to stop riding shortly before the winning post.

The stewards' report read: "Doyle’s explanation that No Retreat jinked in the final strides on the run to the line, causing both itself and Doyle to become unbalanced, requiring him to get a hold of the horse’s head, was noted." No action was taken.

On the severity of Shepherd's ban, Timeform added: "While the protection of punters should always be paramount to the policing of the sport, such a lengthy punishment seems draconian and not befitting of the offence."

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