Winning jockey disqualified after losing weight in ‘unbelievable’ end to Punchestown race
A WINNING jockey was disqualified after losing weight – in an ‘unbelievable’ end to a Punchestown race.
Poor Finn Tegetmeier thought he was celebrating his first ever victory when steering 5-2 Colcannon to a nine-length success in the bumper on Wednesday.
The 7lb claimer, riding for famed trainer Noel Meade, easily saw off Cheltenham Festival-winning jockey John Gleeson on the Gordon Elliott-trained 8-15 fav Sermandzarak.
But the clerk of the scales raised an objection to the result soon after – and it turned out Tegetmeier had weighed in light.
All jockeys weigh out and in before and after a race and they have a 1lb leeway on how much weight they can lose or put on.
Incredibly and agonisingly, Tegetmeier weighed in 1.3lbs light, meaning instant disqualification.
Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer Meade was gutted for his rider.
And he explained that he lost weight when going for a walk round the track.
A shocked Meade told Irish Racing: “He is 0.3 of a pound less than he should be.
“It would appear what happened was he walked the track after he weighed out and may have shed some weight doing that.
“It is unbelievable but there is nothing I can do about it and that’s it. There is no blame on anybody.”
The amount of weight involved seems tiny compared to the weight of a 500kg thoroughbred.
But those are the rules and the weighing out and in procedures are a vital part of fairness in racing.
Colcannon was ultimately placed last and lost out on the £5,300 winnings.
Some bookies paid out on first past the post, however, so those backing Colcannon and Sermandzarak could collect.
This was the second freakish end to a race in Ireland in recent days.
Punters were left feeling ‘sick’ after witnessing this freak 930-1 finish at Clonmel in a race described as total ‘carnage’.
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