McDonald rules out appeal

Conditional jockey PJ McDonald will not be appealing against the eight-day suspension handed out at Carlisle last Sunday.

McDonald will be sidelined between March 30-April 3 and April 5-7 after riding an ill-judged race aboard Mick Easterby’s Al Falcon, who came from a long way back to finish third behind Harbour Breeze in the bumper.

Although Easterby branded the stewards’ decision as “ridiculous”, the penalty for McDonald’s offence ranges from seven to 14 days.

To that end, the Irish rider has chosen not to take the matter any further.

“It’s not worth appealing because even if I am successful, it will only mean a day less,” said McDonald, who is attached to Ferdy Murphy’s yard.

“I did think about it but after speaking to the boss (Murphy), we decided not to bother.

“I think it was a harsh decision but I did hold my hands up after the race and admitted I was too far back and had given it a bad ride.

“One thing’s for certain, I won’t be doing it again.”