The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has today confirmed that it has used its powers under Rule (G)7 of the Rules of racing to amend the result of The bet365 Fillies' Mile (Group 1) (Class 1) run at Newmarket on Friday 9 October 2020.

This follows trainer Aidan O'Brien contacting the Newmarket Stewards to explain that SNOWFALL (JPN) who appeared to finish third and MOTHER EARTH (IRE) who appeared to finish eighth had been saddled incorrectly, resulting in the wrong number cloths being worn and the horses being ridden by the incorrect riders.

As such, the result has been amended to place MOTHER EARTH (IRE) third and SNOWFALL (JPN) eighth.

The saddling of the correct horses for a race is the responsibility of the trainer.

An investigation remains ongoing in relation to the incorrect saddling of the horses and as such the BHA will make no further comment at this time.

Any updates will be communicated in line with usual procedures for Disciplinary matters.

The grounds for potential disqualification are set out in the Rules of racing, are specific and do not include horses starting from the wrong starting stalls or carrying the wrong jockey.

Because the horses that ran in the race were duly entered and carried the correct weight, the only possible disqualification ground would be if the horses were the subject of fraudulent practice.

Therefore the Rules provide no grounds for disqualifying the horses, pending the result of the ongoing investigation.

However, as a result of this case the Rules will now be reassessed to determine whether there should be additional grounds for disqualification.

More generally, the BHA is also considering the implications of the incident to assess whether further changes to the relevant raceday procedures may be brought in, utilising the new raceday officiating structure, as an additional safeguard against trainer error and to minimize the risk of such an event reoccurring.