Kempton Race 1

Anybody watching? I missed it but sounds like a fiasco

So bad it will be hard to beleive that those appy did not pull their mounts! Does anyone know how much was trading on betfair on the 4

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THREE apprentice jockeys landed hefty suspensions in a bizarre outcome to the four-runner opener at Kempton on Tuesday after they allowed the 14-1 outsider to open up a huge lead that was never closed down.

Billy Cray and Ross Atkinson were each banned for 12 days and Paul Nolan for ten after stewards called an immediate inquiry into the outcome of the first race won by Josephine Bruning on Sol Rojo.

The victory was a career first for Bruning, a 7lb conditional, but it could not have come in stranger circumstances as she as allowed far too much rope by her three rivals, all fellow apprentice riders, to win the 1m4f handicap by 16 lengths in the 1m4f handicap.

The trainers of the three other runners, Outlandish (Andy Turnell), Generous Lad (Andrew Haynes) and Turner's Touch (Gary Moore) were called to the stewards' room to explain the actions of their riders.

The 11-10 favourite Outlandish came home second under Cray, claiming 5lb, with Turner's Touch third under Atkinson and Generous Lad fourth under Nolan, also claiming 5lb.

With the field at a dawdle passing the post with a circuit to go in the 1m4f Kempton.co.uk Apprentice Handicap, Bruning kicked away and was soon some 25 lengths in front. The other three apprentices appeared unaware of the danger and did not even start pushing their mounts until the home straight, but the race was long gone.

Lydia Pearce, wife of winning trainer Jeff, said: "I've never seen anything so extraordinary. I told Josephine to get out there and give it her best, but I didn't expect her to completely demoralise them like that!"

Graham Thorner, assistant to Turnell, said: “If you are going to make a mistake you might as well make it a big one. The lad said when he jumped off, ‘I thought she had been run away with'.”

Bruning, who is 23, was riding her first winner but suffered embarrassment of her own as she continued for the best part of anothercircuit after the finish.

David Wilson, who saddled up Gary Moore's Turner's Touch, added: "I've never seen anything so ridiculous and I hope the stewards give the three of them a right roasting."