Frankie Dettori will miss the rides on Without Parole and Stradivarius at Goodwood next week despite having a 10-day suspension for careless riding reduced on appeal at a hearing in London.
The Italian incurred the ban after finishing second aboard Angel’s Hideaway in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket on July 13, a race won by Pretty Pollyanna.
He was found guilty of careless riding in that he allowed his mount to shift right without sufficient correction in the Group Two heat, with Main Edition and La Pelosa among those suffering interference in behind.
Dettori was banned from July 27 to August 5 inclusive, which ruled him out of this weekend’s King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, as well as the mounts on ante-post favourites Stradivarius in Tuesday’s Goodwood Cup and Without Parole in Wednesday’s Sussex Stakes.
He contested that decision and while the appeal board dismissed Dettori’s appeal against the Newmarket stewards’ finding of careless riding, it did opt to cut his suspension by four days.
That reduction will allow Dettori to resume riding on the Thursday of the fixture, when the Qatar Nassau Stakes is the Group One feature.
Dettori did not comment following the verdict, but had insisted during the hearing that he had not been at fault for the incident.
He said: “I went for the gap (near Colm O’Donoghue on sixth-placed Chicas Amigas) as there was plenty of room for me to go. No, she didn’t hang into Colm O’Donoghue’s filly. I stayed straight.
“Colm O’Donoghue went slightly left and I think James Doyle (on Main Edition) went marginally left. He (Silvestre de Sousa on winner Pretty Pollyanna) just gradually went right.
“When Silvestre de Sousa drifted and went right, she was intimidated.
“I was trying to explain to the panel on the day in that instance, when Silvestre de Sousa came across, she had a tendency to go right with him.
“I used the whip once when she ran off a true line, I put my hands back on the reins to try to avoid a collision.”
Trainer John Gosden described Angel’s Hideaway as a “very nervous filly” who had actually got loose on the gallops on Monday morning.
He said: “The first time (she ran) at Newmarket, she was naturally green in behind horses. She ran on late and got a little bit of confidence.
“She was straight as an arrow when she won at Haydock and when she ran at Ascot in the Group Three race (Albany Stakes) on the far side, she followed one of Aidan O’Brien’s. She was pretty straight that day. She was getting a lead at the time, which probably helped.
“She shied and ran away from the bright yellow silks of Mr Gredley (owner of Pretty Pollyanna). She is easily spooked.
“He (Dettori) has ridden her work on the Al Bahathri and that has got rails either side. I’m not putting him on her on the gallops – yesterday she got loose – as I’m preserving him at his age.”