Racing: Confusion promoted by appeal

'WHAT'S the point in appealing?' Pat Eddery, the champion jockey, asked yesterday while accepting a five-day suspension received on Wednesday night. The answer could have been supplied by the comparatively uncelebrated Ollie Pears, whose disqualification in the Magnet Cup at York was overturned at a Jockey Club disciplinary hearing. His mount, appropriately enough, had been Mr Confusion.

This is the second time this season that a decision by local stewards has been quashed at Portman Square, which is proof, the Jockey Club will argue, that the appeals procedure is working. The worrying fact for Rachel Tonks, a stewards' secretary, is that she was also officiating when Richard Quinn was erroneously stood down for reckless riding after a barging contest at Bath.

Thus the hapless Tonks replaces Michael Roberts as the scapegoat for what happened at York. Roberts had been accused of performing like Kenneth Branagh in his protestations at Pears's riding, but after yesterday's inquiry, the latter's solicitor, Jeremy Richardson, said: 'Michael Roberts could not have been fairer. I stress that because he's been subject to a lot of criticism.'

'I was very sick after we lost the race,' Pears said on his way back to the Steve Norton stable, and doubtless Mr Confusion's owner, Richard Fenwick-Gibson, remains a trifle queasy about the workings of justice in racing. Fenwick-Gibson backed his horse - at 16-1 - but will receive not a single penny for his foresight because as far as the bookmakers are concerned, a horse called Tell No Lies (now returned to second place) was the winner of the Magnet Cup.

Delivering a legal oration was just one of Roberts's tasks yesterday. After riding work in Newmarket and driving from his home there to London, Britain's most prolific jockey rushed to Sandown Park, accompanied two winners and then jumped in his car for the evening meeting at Chepstow. Then he had to motor home again.

The betting on the jockeys' championship is becoming a black comedy. After Sandown, Roberts was 10 clear of Eddery and had hardened to 8-11 for the title (Eddery was evens), which would be all fine and dandy if there were only three weeks of the season remaining. According to most calendars, there are five and a half months to pass before we can welcome 1993.

Eddery is not enjoying the best of times. His five-day penalty for excessive use of the whip on Kandy Secret deprives him of the chance to win arguably Europe's finest race, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, while spending the best part of a week on the sidelines will hardly help him in his struggle with Roberts. From Eddery's four rides at Sandown yesterday, one was withdrawn and another refused to enter the stalls.

In analysing his punishment, Eddery was caught between resentment and an acknowledgment that he breached the rules by striking Kandy Secret more times than is allowed. 'The guidelines state that 10 blows with the whip is the maximum,' Eddery said, 'and I hit Kandy Secret more times than that.

'He was running for me, but I wasn't hard with the stick - and as the vet reported, the horse wasn't marked. I was doing my best for the owner and the trainer. What else could I do?'

The lament of the jockeys' sin bin has signalled action stations for agents representing Eddery's rivals. The ride on Rock Hopper in the King George has passed to Walter Swinburn but the even more desirable engagement with Saddlers' Hall is still open. Lester Piggott and John Reid are the two prime candidates.

(Photograph omitted)