Furious row breaks out at Cheltenham Festival between rival jockeys – as one accuses the other of ‘abuse’ in front of his wife and kids
Amateur jockey Declan Queally has claimed he was ‘abused’ by Nico de Boinville before the opening race on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival.
Queally and De Boinville exchanged words on the start line ahead of the Turner Novices’ Hurdle.
The pair had jockeyed for space, after a planned rolling start was scrapped due to a false start.
De Boinville would go on to finish second on Act Of Innocence, while Queally rode I’ll Sort That to fifth place.
The race was won by the Willie Mullins trained King Rasko Grey under jockey Paul Townend.
In a post-race interview with ITV, Queally hit out at De Boinville by claiming he had been abused by his rival before the start.
Nico de Boinville, left, and Declan Queally were seen exchanging words before the first race of the second day of the Cheltenham Festival
Queally claimed after the race that he had been abused by De Boinville during the exchange
‘The start was a bit of a mess, I got tracked back further than I wanted,’ Queally said.
‘Being abused by an English rider wasn’t very nice.
‘I’m an amateur, I’ve come over here with my kids, it was horrific.’
When De Boinville was approached about Queally’s comments, he replied: ‘Maybe he should look in the mirror.’
Legendary jockey AP McCoy analysed the incident on ITV following the row and suggested that Queally had not done anything wrong in the incident.
‘The only thing I would say about this is, one person has the right to be there as much as someone else,’ McCoy said.
‘Just because of whoever you are doesn’t mean to say you should be in there.
‘Looking at it from those shots, I don’t think one person is anymore entitled to be there than another.’
Luke Harvey added: ‘It’s not just because you’re a better jockey, bigger jockey.
De Boinville claimed that Queally needed to ‘look in the mirror’ following his comments
‘You like to go down the inner but if I got to the inner before you, I’d stay there. Why shouldn’t he go down there if he wants to?’
Ruby Walsh joked that the incident was ‘all fun and games’, but stressed it should the need for a rolling start.
‘I think that’s the same as Nico de Boinville rode Jonbon last year and put his head on the tape, so maybe he needs to look in the mirror too,’ Walsh said.
‘I think you need a rolling start, I have said it for a long time, if the horses walked out and lined up behind a tape that then moved in front of the horses you would have none of this drama.’
