BILLY Lee finished runner-up to Colin Keane in the Irish Flat Jockeys’ Championship, after the title race came to a premature end at Dundalk yesterday.
Limerick’s Lee lost an appeal yesterday against a six-day suspension for excessive use of the whip and thus would miss the action on the final days of the season.
That decision made Dundalk’s afternoon card a crucial meeting for Lee, but it was Keane who hit his stride early on when winning the Dundalk Stadium Claiming Race aboard Ger Lyons’ Bucky Larson.
Having arrived at the meeting tied on 89 winners apiece, Keane left with a one-winner lead as the afternoon passed with none of Lee’s rides bringing him close to hitting back with a winner of his own.
The last race was a final roll of the dice but did not provide Lee with the stroke of luck he needed, forcing him to concede the battle to Keane before the Irish Flat season concludes at Naas on Sunday.
