The Stewards today continued their inquiry into V Borges’ riding of DAILY CHARM in the Somerset Handicap which was run at Sha Tin Racecourse on Saturday, 17 April 2021. Further evidence was today taken from Jockey Borges and Mr C S Shum, the trainer of DAILY CHARM. A written authority for Mr Shum to represent the interests of Ms Yu Mo Man, the owner of DAILY CHARM, at today’s inquiry was tendered.
V Borges was charged with having breached Hong Kong Rule of Racing 99 (2) and (6) in that as the rider of DAILY CHARM in the stated race, he failed to take all reasonable and permissible measures throughout the race to ensure DAILY CHARM was given a full opportunity to win or to obtain the best possible placing in the field.
The particulars of the charge being:-
1. That after obtaining a forward position between the start of the race and the 1600 Metres he did fail to make any endeavor between the 1600 Metres and the 1200 Metres to maintain a position closer to the leader of the race, SHANGHAI DRAGON, when it was both reasonable and permissible for him to have done so, given that:-
· The overall sectional of the race between the 1600 Metres and the 1200 Metres was 23.15, which was approximately 1.0 second slower than the standard time for that section in Class 4 races over 1800 Metres at Sha Tin conducted since September 2019.
· DAILY CHARM’s sectional time between the 1600 Metres and the 1200 Metres was 23.95, which was approximately 1.8 seconds slower than the standard time for that section in Class 4 races over 1800 Metres at Sha Tin conducted since September 2019.
· At the 1200 Metres, DAILY CHARM was approximately 7.3 lengths behind SHANGHAI DRAGON, a margin which, given the tempo of the race, was available to be reduced.
· Given the tempo of the race between the 1600 Metres and the 1200 Metres, his failure to endeavour to position DAILY CHARM closer to SHANGHAI DRAGON resulted in DAILY CHARM getting unnecessarily out of its ground in relation to that horse.
2. That between the 1200 Metres and 800 Metres he did fail to make any endeavour to improve his position to be closer to the leader of the race, SHANGHAI DRAGON, when it was both reasonable and permissible for him to have done so, given that:-
· The overall sectional of the race between the 1200 Metres and the 800 Metres was 25.30, which was approximately 1.5 seconds slower than the standard time for that section in Class 4 races over 1800 Metres at Sha Tin conducted since September 2019.
· DAILY CHARM’s sectional time between the 1200 Metres and the 800 Metres was 25.14, which was approximately 1.3 seconds slower than the standard time for that section in Class 4 races over 1800 Metres at Sha Tin conducted since September 2019.
· At the 800 Metres, DAILY CHARM was approximately 6.3 lengths behind SHANGHAI DRAGON, a margin which, given the tempo of the race, was available to be reduced.
· Given the tempo of the race between the 1200 Metres and the 800 Metres, his failure to endeavour to position DAILY CHARM closer to SHANGHAI DRAGON resulted in DAILY CHARM remaining unnecessarily out of its ground in relation to that horse.
3. That between the 800 Metres until near the 550 Metres he did fail to make any reasonable endeavour to improve his position to be closer to the leader of the race, SHANGHAI DRAGON, when it was both reasonable and permissible for him to have done so, given the slow tempo of the race to the 800 Metres, the tempo of the race at the relevant time and the margin of approximately 3 lengths between DAILY CHARM and SHANGHAI DRAGON which was available to be reduced.
4. That by riding DAILY CHARM as he did between the 1600 Metres until near the 550 Metres he did fail to take all reasonable and permissible measures to ensure that DAILY CHARM was given a full opportunity to win or to obtain the best possible placing in the field.
The Stewards immediately adjourned the inquiry until a date and time to be fixed at which time Jockey Borges will be asked to enter a plea to the charge.
