David Bridgwater and his wife Lucy
Racehorse trainer David Bridgwater is expected to be charged with actions prejudicial to the good reputation of racing after the BHA took serious exception to his comments following the Ludlow stewards’ decision to ban amateur Jake Launchbury for 21 days on Wednesday.
Bridgwater described the stewards as “idiots” and questioned their sobriety in the aftermath of the trainer’s Launchbury-ridden Bally Sands throwing away a likely victory when the 16-year-old almost took the wrong course approaching the final fence.
The teenager did not seek to excuse himself and admitted to confusing the final fence for the water jump, which is positioned close to the winning line and bypassed on the final circuit.
Page Fuller, who followed Launchbury’s erroneous path on Petit Ecuyer, was suspended for ten days after it was concluded her mistake had prevented the horse from finishing second.
Quoted by a newspaper, Bridgwater said: “It was just a mistake. They asked me to go into the stewards’ room with him, and it was the same idiots there that were there when I was riding 20 years ago.
“He’s a 16-year-old kid, for God’s sake. He didn’t take the wrong course [and] he jumped the last fence. Okay, give him a week’s ban or something, but to give him 21 days, I think they must still have been p***** from lunch.”
Those sentiments were not well received by the BHA, whose spokesman Robin Mounsey said on Thursday: “The comments attributed to David Bridgwater in today’s Guardian are wholly unacceptable. No sporting regulatory body would tolerate their officials being described in such an unjustified and derogatory manner. The BHA will be taking appropriate action on this matter.”
That action is likely to lead to an appearance before the disciplinary panel. If found guilty Bridgwater could expect to receive a four-figure fine, with the broken rule’s entry point penalty being £2,000.
Bridgwater on Thursday claimed not to have had any communication from the BHA, and said: “Until they get in touch with me I can’t comment.”
www.racingpost.com
