Horse racing: Ruby Walsh in winning return

Ruby Walsh reaffirmed his opposition to the new whip rules after making a winning return to British race-riding at Wetherby.

The leading Irish jockey was furious after picking up a five-day suspension at Aintree last Saturday, promising to make his trips to Britain less frequent for ordinary races.

He missed the meeting at Chepstow on Tuesday, but headed to West Yorkshire yesterday for the ride on Fistral Beach in the Listed bet365 Handicap Chase, where he was rewarded with a comfortable victory.

The well-supported 5-2 favourite travelled strongly throughout the two-and-a-half-mile feature, and was left in a clear lead when market rival Persian Gates crashed out two fences from home.

Walsh only had to push his Paul Nicholls-trained mount, owned by Graham Roach, out to the line to score by eight lengths from Araldur.

Walsh, whose rides at the track today include Poquelin in the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase, said: “The owner [Roach] has a yard full of horses and Paul thought it was worth me coming over. It was a good prize, I thought it was worth coming over for and Paul did too. These are good races. I never said I wouldn’t be coming for these sort of races.

“It is the ordinary races I will have to weigh up and see what the story is. It’s like a soccer player being on a yellow card and not wanting to miss the European Cup final.”

Walsh has appealed against the ban he picked up at Aintree, with the hearing set to take place at British Horseracing Authority headquarters in London on Thursday.

Meanwhile, today’s Flat meeting at Ayr is subject to a 7am precautionary inspection. Officials will assess conditions due to an overnight forecast of up to ten millimetres of rain.