Courtesy of racenet.com.au

Wednesday, 15 April 2009

Jay Ford’s tumultuous day went from bad to worse then back again as he was released from his Doncaster ride on Chinchilla Rose but then reinstated.

Fighting to retain the ride on his champion mount Takeover Target, Ford asked for a release from Chinchilla Rose so he wouldn’t have to ride at 51.5kgs and therefore Takeover Target wouldn’t be forced to carry so much “dead weight”.

The mare’s owners and trainer, Chris Waller were happy to grant the desperate jockey’s request.

“At the end of the day we released him,” Waller said.

“We did the right thing and then the next thing we find out is he’s still not on.”

Ford was replaced aboard Chinchilla Rose by veteran jockey Rod Quinn who as shocked as anyone to find out Ford had been dumped from Takeover Target.

“I really don’t want to be involved in all this but they tell me I’m riding Chinchilla Rose,” Quinn said.

But a short time later stewards reinstated Ford aboard Chinchilla Rose.

“Jay sought a release to ride the other horse [Takeover Target] but he’s not on that anymore so the status quo remains as far as we’re concerned,” deputy steward Steve Railton said.

Rod Quinn was more than happy to move aside for Ford and joked, “I’m on, I’m off, I’m on and I’m off again”.

“It would be a bit rude for Jay to lose both rides.”