The Appeals Body (Division Two), John Moloney (in the Chair), M.C. Hickey and Philip Caffrey met in the Stewards Room, Curragh Racecourse, Co Kildare on Friday, 30th June 2017, to consider the appeal of J.S. Bolger, trainer, against the decision of the Stewards at Gowran Park on 25th June 2017, not to award the Follow Us On Facebook Handicap to Modern Approach, trained by J.S. Bolger which finished second to Remember The Days.

On the day the Stewards held an enquiry into the possible interference in the closing stages of the race involving Remember The Days, ridden Donnacha O’Brien, placed first and Modern Approach, ridden by K.J. Manning, placed second. However having viewed a recording of the race and considered the evidence, the Stewards made no alternation to the judge’s placings.

The grounds of appeal lodged by J.S. Bolger were that Remember The Days hampered Modern Approach during the last furlong, denying her the opportunity to win the race in which she finished second, beaten by a head.

Evidence was heard from K.J. Manning, J.S. Bolger, Donnacha O’Brien and Joseph O’Brien, trainer, Remember The Days.

The Appeals Body also considered a transcript of the stewards’ enquiry and viewed a film recording of the race.

In his evidence, K.J. Manning gave details of the interference he suffered in the latter stages of the race which he said was caused by Remember The Days rolling in on top of his mount Modern Approach. As a result, Modern Approach became unbalanced and made contact with Thomas O’Malley, ridden by Ana O’Brien. This caused Modern Approach to lose momentum and in his opinion cost him the race.

In his evidence, Donnacha O’Brien said that while he accepted his mount Remember The Days had brushed off Modern Approach, the brush was minimal and that it looked worse because of the rail alignment. He also said that Modern Approach was hanging left all the way up the straight and referred to an earlier incident where Modern Approach gave a slight bump to Remember The Days.

In their evidence, both J.S. Bolger and Joseph O’Brien outlined their views of what had occurred and how it had affected the result.

Having considered the evidence, the Appeals Body dismissed the appeal. However, they ordered that the appellant’s deposit be returned in view of the merit of the appeal.

The case was presented by Hugh Hynes, Stewards Secretary.