Jockey Angle with Paddy Flood: 'Riding to win at all costs'

On Saturday we witnessed a controversial renewal of the Irish Champion Stakes. The winning jockey, Shane Foley was found to have ridden ‘carelessly' and was suspended for 11 days.

The length of the suspension was due to the offence being his third of the season. He was suspended for 9 days back in June for an incident which occurred at Naas.

On the upside though, Shane Foley got to keep the race and his mount, Hotazhell, has now been retired to stud.

The race has been won by numerous stallions such as Delacroix, Auguste Rodin, Luxembourg and St Mark's Basilica. The prize money is a colossal €1,250,000.00 with €725,000.00 to the winner.

Paddy Flood, a former jockey and now lead race analyst looked back to the ride on this week's Jockey Angle.

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Paddy Flood's Analysis

We have three Ballydoyle horses here in front and we have Oisin Murphy here on A Boy Named Susie on the inside.

Just in front of him, we have Shane Foley on Hotazhell. A great renewal of the race. Probably the standout Group 1 in Ireland. This race is a stallion-making race, it's the race everybody wants to win.

What we're going to focus on here is Shane Foley and Oisin Murphy, Hotazhell and A Boy Named Susie. At this stage Murphy looks like he's cantered into this race very easily. He's given his horse a beautiful ride.

He saved all the petrol he could save in a Group 1. To me he is very much entitled to go where he's going. Some races you think lads are trying to squeeze into a gap or chancing their arm but I don't think Oisin Murphy's chancing his arm here.

Watch The Jockey Angle in Full

Let's focus on the drama. So, Shane Foley here, Oisin Murphy here. From here now, you can see what Shane probably has caused.

So the stick is in the left hand now because A Boy Named Susie is pretty much upsides Hotazhell.

Look at this jockey's body language here. I mean because A Boy Named Susie is upsides Hotazhell.

Shane pushes Oisin into the two Ballydoyle stablemates inside him. The horse that's not on the rail, he's having to check. And by doing that, he's ended up on top of his stable mate as well, who was probably worstly treated by all of them by it's basically a domino effect.

Shane has come in, trying to stop Oisin from getting that gap. But by doing that, he's basically sandwiched the two Ballydoyle runners.

He knows the boys would have been screaming on his inside to straighten up and Oisin Murphy would have been screaming at him to stay straight as well.

You can take it that Shane Foley knows that he's after causing a bit of interference. But you can also take it that he knows Oisin is there and he's probably going as well as him and basically you know he's not tried. He's not tried to straighten his mount really.

He lets him roll into Constitution River which entails that A Boy Named Susie is given absolutely nowhere to go.

For me, A Boy Named Susie is probably the most hard done by. Then you have Wimbledon Hawkeye to deal with on the outside, who got a fantastic ride by Christophe Soumillon and rattled home. I actually thought he'd won the race but he just missed.

For me looking at that there, A Boy Named Susie is just very, very unlucky. I actually backed him each way, I thought he was a really good bet each way and for me he definitely was going to be placed if not won.

The big talking point

The talking point will be that Shane Foley gets 11 days and he keeps the race. If the rules in Ireland stay the same, you will have riders riding like that to win at all costs because it's the Irish Champion Stakes. It's probably the biggest Group 1 of the year in Ireland. It's a hell of a lot of prize money and it's a stallion making race.

You're going to do everything in your power to win it. But if it's anywhere outside of Ireland, England, possibly England, he might lose it, but anywhere outside of it, he's going to be placed behind A Boy Named Susie.

If it's France, if it's Australia, if it's America, you know, any other big racing jurisdictions will place him behind A Boy Named Susie.

Do you agree with that? Don't you agree with it? I I would think 11 days was a lenient sort of

suspension for Shane. In such a big, big race I think anywhere else in the world he gets a hell of a lot more.

Donnacha O'Brien was not too happy with it. He called it ‘brutal riding' by Shane Foley and he said that ‘if it was an apprentice you'd give him a bollocking.' But there's two sides to the coin,

Hotazhell is now the winner of the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes and A Boy Named Susie isn't, the form book says he was fourth which doesn't read right in my opinion.

I'd say there's going to be a lot of opinions on this, but for me it comes down to the rules. if the rule is there that they're not going to place him behind it.

It gives jockeys that freedom to actually break the rule by interfering with another horse and riding to win at all costs. So, until the rule changes, you will have riders doing it.