Seb Sanders defends boot-less Goodwood ride
Thursday 3 September 2015 09:14, UK
Jockey Seb Sanders has defended his controversial ride at Goodwood on Tuesday, when he partnered Langley Vale without wearing any boots.
The 43-year-old finished fourth behind Pettochside on the Roger Teal-trained 16/1 chance when riding in his stockinged feet with his breeches covering the lower part of his legs.
Sanders did not commit a riding offence – although the British Horseracing Authority could amend its rules as a result – but he admitted he had opted to discard his boots after arriving too late to have a sauna at the Sussex racecourse.
A pair of boots normally weighs between seven and 10 ounces so without them he was able to make the weight of 9st 5lb to ride Langley Vale.
Sanders told the Racing Post: "I wasn't being unprofessional, but I turned the television on this morning and it's gone bonkers.
"I got held up getting to Goodwood and didn't have time for a sweat, so I left the boots off to make the weight. That's all it was and I think a mountain's been made out of a molehill."
Sanders, who shared the jockeys' title with Jamie Spencer in 2007, gave up his only ride at Bath on Wednesday after informing the course his car had broken down on the motorway.
