Spencer jocking off Slattery

Jamie Spencer steered Royal Island to an easy but controversial victory in the seller at Chepstow.

The 4-5 favourite justified his odds by cruising to the front at the furlong pole before running out an eight-length winner from 14-1 shot The Gaikwar.

The runner-up's trainer Ron Harris also saddled the third Personify also at 14-1.

But the success provided a major talking point as champion jockey Spencer had only been called up at the last minute to replace Vince Slattery.

Slattery had travelled to the course for the ride - his only one of the day - but was jocked off in favour of Spencer by connections.

The following is taken from an article that appeared in the Independant (UK) about 3 years ago;

9.30am Vince Slattery is a journeyman, and most of them are long journeys and most of them fruitless. Today he sets off for Leicester. In October, he received a prize to mark a feat that not even Frankie Dettori or Tony McCoy can claim. He rode at Kelso to complete the set of tracks. He has ridden at all 59 racecourses in Britain. "And I've fallen off at most of them as well," he says.

Slattery's car is a Toyota Celica, which provides the myriad roles of transport, office and dustbin. The vehicle runs on LPG, liquefied petroleum gas, which is cheaper than petrol but can have harrowing effects on an engine. The car stalls at most of the roundabouts up to the Midlands, while Slattery vainly chases rides on his mobile phone.

"I never buy expensive cars," he says, rather unnecessarily. "And you have got to like travelling with this job. I spend around pounds 6,000 a year on fuel and do about 65,000 miles.

"I don't like taking holidays because you are missing out if you're not here and I have my break in my car every day, calling trainers. You have to be thick-skinned. You ring people up and the phone goes virtually straight down. I've been chasing my arse trying to get a ride for today and I have ended up with these two creatures.

"People just see you arriving at the racecourse and they don't realise the riding out you've done in the morning, that you might have done 200 miles before you started.

"I'm not really an extravagant sort of person. That's my wife. She thinks money is what the postman delivers in the morning. I buy as little as possible if I can help it. When I'm riding out I'd be spotting posts and stuff as I'm going around. At the weekends, when I'm not riding, I go out to the woods with the kids and we chop up logs to use in the stove.

Since that article, Slattery suffered the tragic loss of his young son. I find it astonishing that Spencer would accept the ride in view of how important a win like that would be for Slattery (paltry share of prize money aswell as jockeys fee aside) and although Im sure it will emerge that Spencer has given all monies due to Slattery, the fact remains that Slattery should have been allowed keep the ride and Spencer should not have allowed himself to replace the jockey.