BAN COSTS MURPHY CUP RIDE

JOCKEY of the year Oisin Murphy will miss his ride on Ed Dunlop-trained Red Verdon in the Melbourne Cup after picking up a 15-meeting ban. But Murphy will be able to ride his star mount, John Gosdentrained Roaring Lion, in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in Kentucky a week today. Murphy was handed the ban for careless riding by Australian stewards after finishing second on Aidan O’Brien’s Spirit Of Valor in yesterday’s Manikato Stakes at Moonee Valley. Rules in the state of Victoria allow a jockey to delay the start of a suspension for nine days. The Melbourne Cup is a week on Tuesday. Murphy’s mounts at the Breeders’ Cup are also likely to include Lightning Spear in the Mile and Pocket Dynamo in the Juvenile Turf Sprint. The Irishman is principally in Australia to ride Benbatl in this morning’s Cox Plate.

● KING POWER, a daughter of Frankel and one of the most expensive yearlings in Britain when bought for £2,625,000 last year, makes her debut in the first race at Newbury. The Andrew Balding-trained filly carries the

colours of Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

● DAN SKELTON brought up the fastest century of winners in a season for a jumps trainer with Sam Red at Cheltenham. Skelton beat the record of Martin Pipe, who reached three figures on November 3. In a dramatic day, Skelton’s One For Billy and Eugene O’Sullivan’s Oighear Dubh threw away chances to win the second and sixth races by crashing through the tape after the last fence, which is to stop horses heading out on another circuit.