Azkadellia to retain Group One win

Azkadellia will retain her Group One win in the Queen Of The Turf despite the wrangle over her ownership.

The board of Racing NSW has decided the mare will keep her status and prize money from her three starts in NSW in 2016.

Trained by Ciaron Maher, Azkadellia also ran second in the Coolmore Classic and third in the Doncaster Mile during her Sydney autumn campaign last year.

Maher is serving a six-month suspension imposed by Racing Victoria which said he should have known his former racing manager Ben Connolly was not the registered owner of five horses he trained.

Connolly was disqualified for more than two years after an inquiry found the five horses listed in Connolly’s name were in fact owned by convicted con man Peter Foster.

The five horses were disqualified from their races in Victoria.

But Racing NSW said it believed Azkadellia should keep her placings and prize money.

“The Board of Racing NSW has resolved that Azkadellia not be disqualified from the above NSW races in which it competed, having regard to the fact that the horse competed on a level-playing field with the other horses in those races,” Racing NSW said in a statement.

“There is no evidence to suggest that the breach of AR56B in any way influenced the results in those races.”