Drakenstein-based sire Duke Of Marmalade was denied a fourth European Classic winner this year when his daughter Simple Verse was demoted in the boardroom after crossing the line first in the St. Leger at Doncaster on Saturday, a head clear of the Aiden O’Brien-trained Bondi Beach.

When the winning connections of Bondi Beach were later presented with the trophy and jockey Colm O’Donoghue the Leger cap, boos and the odd shout were heard ringing out and later Simple Verse’s angry trainer Ralph Beckett vowed he would appeal against the upheld decision.

The decision looked harsh and in fact the following day across the Irish Sea the interference caused by the superstar Golden Horn when winning the Irish Champions Stakes looked far worse, with Free Eagle being the victim, but the result stood after a steward’s enquiry. The margin of victory in both instances must have played a big part (Free Eagle lost momentum to such an extent that he finished only third, beaten one-and-a-half lengths).

Footage of the St. Leger enquiry first shows Simple Verse, who looks full of running, overtaking Bondi Beach but then being kept in a pocket by the latter behind the two horses in front. She then forces her way outward, which was considered “the first bit of interference”. Later when both are driving for the line she shifts outward again and interferes with Bondi Beach, which the stewards call “the second bit of interference”.

However, it is clear that between the time of the first bit of interference and the second, Bondi Beach leans on Simple Verse, and even gives her a small bump. This forces her inward by two or three horse widths. Simple Verse, who was staying ahead all the while, clearly reacts to being leaned on by eventually shifting outward and if she hadn’t she would have risked being pushed on to another slowing horse on her inside.

Atzeni was at pains to point out that he was being leaned on in the enquiry and goes on to say, “The best horse won the race and I think if the other horse was good enough he had plenty of time to get by me. I don’t think my filly would have let him get by me and even if we had gone another lap I don’t think he would have got by me, it was 50/50 (interference).”  Bondi Beach’s jockey Colm O’Donoghue concluded by saying, “Has an instant occurred? Yes. Has it took me off a straight course? Yes. Before the second time in the race my horse had received a severe bump which has obviously taken his breath, knocked him off his stride and his rhythm. He is doing his best and trying his heart out to get back at the filly that obviously has a weight allowance against him, but he’s suffered interference and he’s been beaten a head on the line, and he’s received two instances.”

Atzeni could well have been right in saying the best horse won the race as Simple Verse was unable to go for home when she had wanted and clearly has more gears than the more one-paced galloping type Bondi Beach.

However, despite the number of upheld enquiries in Britain being relatively low, British stewards have never reacted kindly to jockeys forcing their way out of tight situations. That is clearly what Atzeni did when he was full of horse with nowhere to go.

The upheld decision cost Atzeni a second successive St. Leger. Simple Verse would have become the first filly to win the race since 1992. It was the first time a horse had been disqualified from first place in the St Leger since 1789.

This year Duke Of Marmalade’s daughter Sound Of Freedom won the Italian 1000 Guineas, another daughter won the Gr 1 Prix de Diane over 2100m in France (equivalent of the Epsom Oaks) and his son Nutan won the German Derby by five lengths. Drakenstein appear to have timed the purchase of the five-time European Gr 1 winner particularly well as he in unusually high positions on the various European sires logs for a stallion imported to South Africa.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Simple Verse (attheraces)