Cordobes appeal fails

Trainer Penny Buckley and conditional jockey Des Flavin lost their appeals against the punishments handed out by the Market Rasen stewards over the running and riding of Hermano Cordobes.

The Jockey Club disciplinary panel found them guilty of schooling the horse in public and upheld the penalties that followed division two of the AC Office Supplies Maiden Hurdle on St Stephen's Day.

However, the panel concluded the rule breaches were ‘the result of naivety and inexperience, and were not part of a premeditated plan’.

The five-year-old, a 100-1 chance, finished sixth of 14 on his jumping debut behind Waterloo Son on what was only his second appearance on a racecourse and his first outing for almost a year.

The Lincolnshire handler was fined £1,000, the 5lb claiming conditional banned for seven days (January 17-24) and the horse prevented from running for 40 days (January 17 to February 25).

The panel felt that Flavin did not ride the gelding with sufficient effort so as to achieve the best possible placing and that Mrs Buckley had made no case that the rider failed to comply with her instructions.

Both trainer and jockey had their £500 deposits returned, and Mrs Buckley said: “I would say we had a fair hearing. We got the same result but they said we hadn’t done it intentionally which was a little bit better.

“They couldn’t lessen the punishments because we were at the bottom end of the scale anyway but at least they were happy we hadn’t done it on purpose.”