Sandown 7 to appeal bans

THE Professional Jockeys Association believes the seven jockeys banned amid chaotic scenes at Sandown on Saturday have ‘clear grounds to appeal’. Paul Struthers, the jockeys’ CEo, expects an appeal will be launched by tonight’s deadline. The seven riders — Daryl Jacob, Harry Skelton, Jamie Moore, Adam Wedge, Philip Donovan, James Davies and Stan Sheppard — were handed 10-day bans which start on December 21 and rule them out of the busy Christmas programme. They failed to stop for a void-race yellow flag at the third-last fence in the London national after Houblons Des obeaux suffered a fatal heart attack a few strides after the fence on the first circuit. The British Horseracing Authority yesterday stood by the decision of the Sandown stewards, but there has been criticism of the way the yellow flag was deployed, the severity of the ban and the length of time it took the void decision to be relayed to punters waiting in the dark to be refunded their bets. BHA spokesman Robin Mounsey said: ‘The stewards determined that the stop race procedures were deployed adequately and the riders had the opportunity to see the flag and hear the whistle. Indeed riders did pull up. ‘Therefore, the seven jockeys who continued racing were in breach of the rules. They have the ability to appeal that decision if they wish, in front of an independent panel.’ Most severely hit of the seven jockeys if they fail in their appeal will be Jacob (left), who won yesterday’s Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon on Top notch. His rides during the festive period could include Bristol De Mai in the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day. Meanwhile, there were no European wins in yesterday’s Hong Kong International races which were dominated by horses trained in Japan and jockey Joao Moreira. With crowds reduced from the usual 90,000 to 27,000 because of anti-government protests, the nearest to a European win came with Aidan o’Brien’s Magic Wand’s unlucky short-head second in the Cup to Win Bright.