Frankie Dettori one of FIVE jockeys questioned as stewards open investigation into ‘weird’ Goodwood race

FRANKIE DETTORI was one of FIVE jockeys hauled in for questioning by stewards after a ‘bizarre’ Goodwood race.

Tom Marquand produced one of the rides of the season on runaway 16-1 winner Quickthorn in the Goodwood Cup.

The horse has previous for jumping into a massive early lead and never getting caught.

Trained by Hughie Morrison, Quickthorn did it in the Lonsdale Cup at York last year and pulled off the freakish ride on day one of the Glorious festival again.

And speaking on the morning of the race, Oisin Murphy even said the one thing they could not do in the race was give Quickthorn an easy lead.

Punters praised Marquand and his mount for ‘making mugs’ of their rivals.

But stewards took a dim view of what happened and demanded Dettori and four others, including Murphy, explain to them just what happened in the Group 1 feature.

The BHA stewards report read: “An enquiry was held into the running and riding of Broome, unplaced, ridden by William Buick, Coltrane, placed third, ridden by Oisin Murphy, Courage Mon Ami, placed sixth, ridden by Frankie Dettori, Eldar Eldarov, placed fourth, ridden by David Egan, and Tashkan, unplaced, ridden by James Doyle, as these were the leading horses in the chasing pack behind the runaway leader, the eventual winner, Quickthorn, which had been given an unchallenged, extended lead when going up the hill.

“The riders were interviewed and shown recordings of the race.

“The Stewards noted their explanations that at the point that Quickthorn began to extend its lead at the bottom of the hill, which did concern them, they did not believe that it was in their respective mount’s best interest to close on the gelding up the hill.

“They were of the view that Quickthorn had gone off too quickly on the good to soft ground and would tire.

“They felt that in the circumstances they had asked for timely effort only staying on at the one pace, never threatening the runaway six-length winner.”

Speaking after the race, Dettori, who on the same day set a new date for his final ever ride, said: “I’ve seen some weird things, but that was bizarre.”

Quickthorn jumped into an early lead and at one point in the two mile contest looked to be about 20 lengths clear.

He looked destined to run out of energy and come back to the pack over the rolling, undulating track.

But the horse simply loves being on his own up front and he fended off all challenges to scoop the £283,500 prize in style.

A chuffed Marquand said: “He’s a warrior. He just loves bowling away. It’s an exceptional performance.

“There’s no masterplan on him, it’s simple what you need to do. Everybody knows what he’s going to do.”

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