Spencer free to ride Yeats

Jamie Spencer will be able to ride Vodafone Derby favourite Yeats in his final prep race after his four-day ban for careless riding was allowed to stand today.

Spencer was handed the suspension by the Navan stewards last Saturday after he appeared to bring down Sahara Sonnet while riding All Too Beautiful in the Listed Salsabil Stakes.

Lady O’Reilly, owner of Sahara Sonnet, appealed to the Irish Turf Club against the severity of the sentence and hoped to get Spencer’s charge upped to dangerous riding.

That would have meant a longer suspension, ruling him out of the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial on May 9 and, possibly, the Irish Guineas meeting the following weekend.

Both Spencer and Lady O’Reilly had legal representation for the hearing with Seamus McKenna acting for Spencer and Andrew Coonan for Lady O’Reilly.

The Appeals and Referrals Committee heard evidence from stewards’ secretary Lorcan Wyer, Lady O’Reilly, Sahara Sonnet’s jockey Michael Kinane, her trainer John Oxx, All Too Beautiful’s trainer Aidan O’Brien and Spencer himself.

After considering the evidence and viewing videos of the race, the committee dismissed Lady O’Reilly’s appeal and confirmed the dates of suspension as May 3,5,6 and 7.

However, Spencer will also be out of action on May 4 after picking up a further four-day suspension at Longchamp last Sunday, the other days of which will run concurrently with the Navan ban.