A PROMISING young jockey has been kicked off a huge Royal Ascot ride – as punters warned ‘karma will come’ for the horse’s owners.
Harry Davies steered East India Dock to a brilliant £87,000 success in the Chester Cup last month.
Jockey Harry Davies has lost the ride on East India Dock after steering the horse to £87,000 Chester Cup success on his last runGetty
PAJames Doyle, who’s won Group races for the Gredley family, has replaced Davies on huge Ascot Stakes chance East India Dock[/caption]
The 20-year-old has career prize money earnings of £3.7million and has banged in black-type wins for several trainers.
He timed his ride on the Triumph Hurdle third to perfection when scoring on the Roodee.
But he won’t get the chance to repeat the feat at Ascot after being jocked off the four-year-old gelding in favour of James Doyle.
Wathnan’s No1 rider has stacks of experience at the Royal track so it’s no surprise to see a switch-up ahead of the 2m4f Ascot Stakes on day one.
And owners the Gredley family certainly aren’t afraid of a late jockey switch.
They famously removed Callum Shepherd from the big Derby ride on Ambiente Friendly in favour of Rab Havlin before the pair finished second to City Of Troy in 2024.
Racing commentator Mike Cattermole was one of those surprised to see Davies lose the ride on the 4-1 second-favourite.
He wrote on X: “Harry gave East India Dock a copybook ride around Chester, of all the tricky tracks!
“He is a lovely lad and must be gutted. What an odd and pointless decision.”
And a punter replied: “That’s really not very nice at all. Feel sorry for Harry… karma will come.”
Tim Gredley spoke sense when he explained the decision, though, highlighting course form counts for everything.
He told the Racing Post: “James Doyle is brilliant. We’ve had a lot of success with him – we won the Gold Cup with him on Big Orange.
“It’s nothing more than that.
“Harry Davies did nothing wrong at Chester and he’ll still ride for us.”
Willie Mullins will look to kick off a Royal party at Ascot when he saddles the King and Queen’s Reaching High.
Ryan Moore gets the ride on the 7-2 fav, who was bred by the late Queen Elizabeth and is out of Estimate, her beloved Gold Cup winner.
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