Hearing on The Noble Player Disqualification Is Scheduled

An appeal hearing into the disqualification of The Noble Player as winner of the $65,800 Russell Handicap late last year at Santa Anita has been scheduled for a week from today.

Ben Felton, a Sherman Oaks attorney who is a member of the California Horse Racing Board, will officiate at the hearing and decide on the appeal.

The Noble Player, owned by Englishman Robert Sangster, scored a convincing victory in the Russell, which had a winner’s purse of $38,800.

About 10 days later, however, a Santa Anita official discovered that The Noble Player wasn’t eligible for the race because he had earned $25,100 for winning a stake at the Bay Meadows Fair. The Russell was restricted to horses that had not won $25,000 in a previous race.

Three weeks after the Russell, stewards at Santa Anita ruled that The Noble Player was disqualified and the win was given to Trakady, who ran second.

Sangster appealed the ruling.

“We feel we have a good case,” said Dick Craigo, Sangster’s attorney. “Someone at Bay Meadows incorrectly posted a purse under $25,000 on the horse’s papers, and nobody noticed it when the papers came down to Santa Anita.