The owner of Diore Lia, the 1000-1 shot who was withdrawn from the Investec Derby on Saturday, claimed yesterday that his filly had been “nobbled” to prevent her from running at Epsom (Rob Wright writes).
Richard Aylward, who made some colourful comments in the build-up to last week’s classic, is convinced that the minor injury that she sustained overnight on Friday was not an accident.
“In my opinion someone has given the horse a terrible belt with a piece of wood or something,” Aylward told The Guardian yesterday. “Somebody has done it in the middle of the night, whoever they are.
“I went up to see her on Sunday morning. She was very, very stiff and carrying the leg [holding it off the floor]. It’s not just a lameness. The horse has been injured, simple as that, and she didn’t do it to herself. It’s a billion to one that this has happened to such a famous horse on the night before the Derby.”
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On hearing Aylward’s comments, John Jenkins, the filly’s trainer, said: “Oh dear, oh dear. She just pulled a muscle — it’s just one of those things. It looks as though she has just got cast [rolled over and then suffered an injury when trying to get up] in her stable — that’s the most likely cause.”
Any prize money won by Diore Lia had been pledged by Aylward to go to Great Ormond Street Hospital, although the filly had shown little ability in two races so far. “I have my own theories, but the horse was nobbled; there’s no question about that,” Aylward added. “It’s so frustrating when we were just trying to raise a bit of money for Great Ormond Street Hospital.
“How coincident for it to happen on the morning of the Derby. She went into her box on Friday morning after cantering, perfect. The horse is so docile — she wouldn’t have banged against a wall or anything like that. She’s lazy as hell. She wouldn’t go lame in the box by herself. The horse was tampered with in my opinion and I will think that till the day I die.”