BHA investigates after Williams withdraws four horses.

Byline: Rodney Masters

VETERINARY inspectors from the BHA were at the Glamorgan stables of Evan Williams yesterday evening to check over the four horses he had withdrawn from the novice chase at Huntingdon citing lameness, writes Rodney Masters.

Williams had been responsible for five of the eight horses declared at the overnight stage for the Bob Brown Memorial Novices' Chase.

Only one of theWilliams quintet, Leading Article, started. He finished third and last behind Sunisa.

The trainer's other declared runners were withdrawn within two minutes of each other at lunchtime under a veterinary certificate that stated they were lame.

Williams said: "I wasn't happy with a couple of the horses when I arrived home from Cheltenham on Tuesday night, and the others weren't right yesterday morning.

I'm just the trainer, and I rely on advice from my vet who said the horses shouldn't run at Huntingdon. These things happen in racing."

At the time the race was being run, the BHA's veterinary inspectors were at the yard taking a look at the four horses - Councillor Jack, who had won his two previous races and was the forecast 2-1 favourite in the Racing Post, My Friend Johnnie, Such A Man and Walsingham.

Owen Byrne, spokesman for the BHA, said last night: "We are looking into the circumstances of the four non-runners from the stable of Evan Williams. They all had vet's certificates stating they were lame."