Winston handed hefty ban

Robert Winston made a nightmare start to Royal Ascot week when he was handed a 28-day ban after being found guilty of dropping his hands at Carlisle.

Winston was riding the Alan Swinbank-trained Confide in the Border Construction Handicap and he was in front when he appeared to ease off his mount briefly inside the final furlong.

Unfortunately for Winston, 25-1 outsider Royal Indulgence came with a powerful late run down the outside to take the race by a neck.

Winston, who is considered the main challenger to Jamie Spencer for the jockeys’ title, will be out of action from June 30 to July 27 inclusive, meaning he will miss the July meeting at Newmarket and the Coral-Eclipse Stakes among others.

Phil Tuck, stipendiary steward, explained: “It is the mandatory punishment for a jockey who loses a race which they should have won and Robert admitted that he would have won.

“He was refreshingly honest and all credit to him.

“If it had been a wilful offence the incident would have had to have been deferred to the HRA but it clearly wasn’t.”

Winston added: “I will just have to take it on the chin.

“I mustn’t let it affect me. I was looking at the big screen and saw that I was three lengths clear and just eased my momentum – I didn’t stop riding.”

Swinbank took the defeat philosophically and said: “These things happen in racing but the horse should have won.

“The plan is to run him at Thirsk tomorrow and Redcar on Friday because we want to get him high enough in the weights to get him in to the Carlisle Bell next week.”