Racing fans have expressed outrage and called it a new low after jockey Jack Garritty received a ten-day suspension for his handling of Red Derek at Leicester.

People have urged Garritty to challenge the decision made by racecourse officials, who decided his performance broke rules regarding non-triers.

Trained by Lisa Williamson, the 11-2 shot started slowly in the 1m2f race held on heavy ground and finished eight lengths behind the winner, Elora Prince.

Officials raised concerns during the middle part of the event when they stated he permitted the gelding to drop partially behind before delivering the quickest finish.

Garritty explained that his orders were to break cleanly and lead the field because the horse enjoys testing conditions and possesses strong stamina.

His sluggish beginning ruined that initial plan, forcing him to adopt different tactics once the race started.

Race officials viewed the incident differently in their official findings.

The report noted that the horse dropped well behind the main group before rallying strongly down the home straight from an unlikely position to take a closing third place.

Garritty stated that his instructions were to push forward and race prominently, but he altered his approach because he wanted to avoid exciting the gelding while fighting for position against a fast early pace.

Instead, he chose to ease up early, move wide, and avoid the flying kickback.

The report stated, "Garritty accepted that, whilst it might have appeared like he had given the gelding too much to do in order to make up the ground lost during the middle stages of the race, he argued that had he asked RED DEREK for an effort any earlier, the gelding would not have finished as well as it did and had, in fact by being ridden in this way, run its best race for some time."

The trainer representative mentioned that although Garritty failed to execute the initial instructions due to his slow start, they remained happy with how he handled the horse.

Garritty received a ten-day suspension for failing to take all reasonable and permissible measures to obtain the best possible placing on RED DEREK, as in allowing the gelding to become partially detached from the field throughout the middle stages of the race, he had given the horse far too much to do from four furlongs out, with the sectional timings indicating that RED DEREK had clearly produced the fastest furlong splits for each of the final three furlongs on the back of being poorly positioned to mount its challenge from after turning in.

Several racegoers who reviewed the video footage stated the finish looked completely normal to them.

One person stated they were lost for words that the performance deserved a ten-day suspension.

Another viewer mentioned they would feel amazed if Garritty fails to win an appeal.

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