Amended result of controversial dead-heat at Kempton Park

The BHAuthority have amended the result of a controversial dead-heat at Kempton Park last week in favour of even-money favourite Extra Noble.

Extra Noble and Fire Fighting (16/1) were very quickly deemed to have shared the spoils by judge Dave Smith, but almost immediately punters began to air their reservations on social networks and other internet forums.

The BHA website would  normally make the photo-finish print available shortly after the race, but in this case it did not appear until the following morning following alleged technical problems!

In a statement on Monday afternoon the BHA said:

"The British Horseracing Authority contacted the judge Mr David Smith and asked him to reconsider his original decision of a dead-heat for first place between Extra Noble and Fire Fighting in the £200 Free Bets At Betdaq Maiden Stakes at Kempton Park on 26th June 2013. After further consideration, within the time period laid down in Rule (B)62.2 of the Rules of Racing, Mr Smith agreed that the result was incorrect and that Extra Noble should be placed first and Fire Figthing second. The BHA confirmed the revised placings."

BHA spokesman Robin Mounsey admitted that 'punter power' had forced the BHA to request the high-definition version of the photo-finish print after the low definition version of the photo-finish print was posted, but were later able to get the high-definition version from RaceTech,.

"When we heard there were concerns about the result we requested that and got it. We looked at that."

The BHA said it was conducting an internal investigation into the circumstances which led to Smith originally declaring the result of the race a dead-heat.

"The internal investigation will look into all circumstances as to why it was called wrongly," said Mounsey.