Ndaawi, left, with Jack Kennedy up, crosses the line in the Guinness Galway Hurdle beside Helvic Dream and Donagh Meyler with Ndaawi getting the verdict following a stewards’ enquiry. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Noel Meade has confirmed he has lodged an appeal against the demotion of Helvic Dream from first place in last week’s Galway Hurdle.
Meade’s eight-year-old was first past the post, getting the better of the Gordon Elliott-trained Ndaawi by a head, only for the stewards to reverse the placings, ruling interference between the pair had affected the result.
Speaking at Sligo on Wednesday, Meade said: “We put an appeal in yesterday and it’s up on Tuesday, so we’ll see what happens.
“Despite what everyone seems to think, every video I look at seems to suggest that Jack (Kennedy, on Ndaawi) got every chance to win the race and didn’t go through with it as much as anything else.
“He was leaning on my lad as much as my lad was leaning on him.”