Appeal Denied : Russell Results Official: The Noble Player Loser

Nearly seven months after last year’s Russell Handicap at Santa Anita, the result finally is official.

An appeal by the owner of The Noble Player, who finished first but was disqualified by the stewards, was denied Tuesday by the California Horse Racing Board, giving the $38,800 win to Trakady, who ran second.

The Noble Player, owned by Robert Sangster of England, was not eligible for the Russell, which was restricted to horses that hadn’t won $25,000 in any previous race. John Gosden, who trains The Noble Player, entered the horse even though the horse had won a $25,100 purse at the Bay Meadows Fair, and the error wasn’t discovered by a Santa Anita official until about 10 days after the Russell had been run.

Ben Felton, president of the state racing board, made the decision on Sangster’s appeal and it was affirmed by five of the six other members of the board, the sixth member’s vote not having reached the board’s Sacramento offices as of Tuesday. Approval by four board members was required.

“It was a difficult decision because the papers on the horse were in error and showed that he had won less than $25,000 at Bay Meadows,” Felton said.

“But what mattered most was that the horse wasn’t eligible. It would be like an employer making an error on an employee’s annual earnings and then the Internal Revenue Service questioning the employee’s tax return. No matter what the employer stated, it is the employee’s responsibility to know what he earned when he turned in the return.”

Dick Craigo, a Los Angeles attorney representing Sangster, wasn’t happy with the decision. Craigo indicated he would like to pursue the decision in the courts, but said that Sangster would probably accept the outcome.

“It would be refreshing when the day comes that the racing board follows its own rules the way others try to follow those rules,” Craigo said. “The rule is crystal clear about a 72-hour rule regarding protests, yet this horse was disqualified because of something that was discovered 10 days after the race.”

Felton said: “My interpretation was that the 72-hour rule didn’t apply, because there was no actual protest, there was just a discovery that the horse wasn’t eligible to run. But I will admit that California probably needs a rule to cover such an unusual case as this one.”

The Noble Player will share in none of the purse from the race. The 5-year-old son of The Minstrel was injured in the Russell, but he returned to action last Friday and won an allowance race at Hollywood Park.