Jonjo faces Jockey Club disciplinary panel

Jonjo O’Neill is set to face the Jockey Club disciplinary panel on February 13 after the performance of Top Of The Left at Exeter last week.

The lightly-raced eight-year-old finished unplaced under conditional jockey Tom Siddall in division two of the Sparkle Cleaning Services Novices’ Hurdle on January 27.

The stewards took exception to Top Of The Left finishing just over 32 lengths behind 7-4 favourite Vanormix after appearing to be tenderly handled by Siddall in the home straight.

It was the gelding’s first outing for 683 days and the stewards called in O’Neill’s representative Helen Donnelly, as well as Siddall, and after hearing their evidence found Siddall in breach of rule 158(i) which deals with schooling in public, and O’Neill in breach of rules 155(i) and 221b(i), also headed schooling in public.

As it was the trainer’s third offence in the last two years, the stewards decided to refer the matter to Portman Square.

The Jackdaws Castle trainer was found guilty last month of two similar offences on one day following the performances of Gala Performance and Madalyar at Haydock and Fakenham respectively, and now faces further punishment.