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Your support makes all the difference.Without going within 10 miles of a starting stall, two of Britain's leading jockeys yesterday added another significant achievement to their distinguished career records.
For Michael Hills, it was the rare feat of persuading the Jockey Club that a riding ban imposed by local stewards was unduly harsh, and he will now be free to ride Pentire, the favourite, in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on Saturday. Walter Swinburn, meanwhile, learned that his painful struggle back to fitness after a near-fatal fall in Hong Kong five months ago is almost over, and that he will be free to return to race-riding on 11 August.
Hills was the first to emerge from Portman Square in cheerful mood, having had the three-day ban for careless riding imposed by the Doncaster stewards eight days ago reduced by a single day. This was sufficient to invoke a rule allowing the jockey to delay or split his ban to avoid missing a ride in a Group One race and as such, the decision was a significant victory not just for Hills, but also for those who believe a punishment should fit the crime.
Certainly, the rider believed that anything less would have been harsh indeed. "I think other jockeys will be pleased that I have come and altered a decision given on the spur of the moment," Hills said. "On the day it definitely looked careless, but they didn't take into account the other horse's head carriage, how hard he was pulling and how much trouble he was giving Kevin Darley.
"Maybe I would have appealed even if the King George wasn't involved. I felt hard done by. It was careless riding at 8.30 at night after I had been in the car for nine hours, but it was not dangerous in any way. It was minor and I felt it deserved a minor penalty."
One weighing-room colleague who might applaud the decision less heartily than most is Michael Roberts, who was booked to partner Pentire if Hills's appeal proved unsuccessful. Since he has two King George victories to his credit already, though, Roberts would surely not begrudge Hills the best chance he is ever likely to have to win one of Britain's most important championship races.
Walter Swinburn won his first - and, to date, only - King George in 1981, when Michael Hills was barely out of his apprenticeship, but any chance to add to that total will not arrive until 1997 at least. None the less, the fact that Swinburn is preparing to ride on our racecourses at all is a considerable testament to his resilience and determination, given the extent of the head, shoulder and rib injuries he received at Sha Tin in February.
Several of Swinburn's target dates for a return have come and gone since then, but he has frequently ridden work on the Newmarket gallops in recent weeks and yesterday he persuaded Dr Michael Turner, the Jockey Club's chief medical adviser, and the other members of the Licensing Committee that he is almost ready to resume his career. Sticking firmly to its guidelines concerning head injuries, the Committee will allow Swinburn to ride when precisely six months have elapsed since his fall.
"I am very pleased that I have been licensed after a long and trying time for myself and my family," Swinburn said. "I accept the reasons for the delay and I have had a very fair hearing from the Jockey Club. To wait another three weeks will be hard but I have always wanted to get back. Riding is my life."
Like a footballer returning from long lay-off, however, Swinburn may now find that he must struggle to regain his place in the first team. With the Ebor meeting at York opening barely a week after his return, he will be keen to re-establish his long-standing associations with both Michael Stoute and Sheikh Maktoum al Maktoum.
Yet Swinburn will not be an automatic choice, it seems. "We can't really comment on what Walter will ride for us," Joe Mercer, Sheikh Maktoum's racing manager, said yesterday, "but we don't have a retainer any more and most of the jockeys that have been riding for us will stay on the horses. It's good news that he's got his licence back but we all thought it would be a lot of earlier than this."
The leading players for Saturday's King George figure prominently in William Hill's unusually early list for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October, though the narrow favourite at this stage is Zagreb, the Irish Derby winner, at 6-1.
KING GEORGE VI & QUEEN ELIZABETH STAKES (Ascot, Saturday): Tote: 5-2 Pentire, Shaamit, 9-2 Classic Cliche, 7-1 Strategic Choice, 8-1 Oscar Schindler, 11-1 Farasan, 14-1 Luso, 16-1 Singspiel, 33-1 Song Of Tara, 50-1 Annus Mirabilis, 9-2 Swain (with a run).
PRIX DE L'ARC DE TRIOMPHE (Longchamp, 6 October): William Hill: 6-1 Zagreb, 7-1 Helissio, 8-1 Riyadian, 10-1 Darazari, Shaamit, Swain, 12-1 Pentire, 20-1 Classic Cliche, Tarator, Valanour, 25-1 others.
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