Walsh fails in ban appeal but still joins The Midnight Club

Ruby Walsh has had his appeal against a three-day careless riding ban dismissed following a hearing at the British Horse- racing Authority yesterday morning.

Walsh was handed the suspension and demoted from first place after last Saturday’s JCB Triumph Hurdle Trial at Cheltenham during which his mount, Pearl Swan, leaned onto Grumeti inside the final furlong. After crossing the line a short head in front, the raceday stewards deemed the interference serious enough to have affected the result of the race.

The ban rules Walsh out of the Betfair Hurdle fixture at Newbury on 11 February, which also features races like the Game Spirit and Denman Chases on the same card.

The BHA later tweeted that Walsh had successfully requested to defer the second day of his suspension due to there being Grade One action in Ireland. Walsh will now be free to ride at the Irish Hennessy Gold Cup meeting at Leopardstown with the jockey being banned on 11, 13 and 14 February.

Walsh left London immediately to catch a flight back to Ireland, where he is due to ride last year’s Grand National sixth The Midnight Club at Clonmel.

He tweeted: “Lost appeal but made flight hopefully the midnight club can bring some good out of the day!”

Meanwhile, a cracking renewal of the JCB Triumph Hurdle looks on the cards with quality to the fore amongst 77 entries.

The first two from an informative trial last weekend, Grumeti and Pearl Swan, are likely to lock horns once again. Trainer Alan King has a good record in the race and Grumeti is scheduled to have one more run before March. King could also run Vendor, Balder Succes, Ardlui and Fire Fighter. Paul Nicholls trains Pearl Swan but he could also run Dildar, Ranjaan and Hinterland as he bids to follow up last year’s win with Zarkandar.

As the build-up to the Cheltenham Festival gathers pace, Scottish trainer Lucinda Russell has praised Musselburgh for developing its highlight John Smith’s jumps meeting on Sunday as a true test for Cheltenham and Aintree-bound prospects.

The Milnathort-based trainer has nine entries in the John Smith’s Scottish Cheltenham Trials and has high hopes that at least three will show signs that they can produce the goods at the highest level. With £88,000 in prize money, including three £20,000 races, Musselburgh has established this February race day as a top draw for stables as far apart as Newmarket, Lambourn, Cheshire and North Yorkshire.

“In the current climate, Musselburgh has done exceedingly well in keeping its prize money up for owners,” said Russell. “The John Smith’s Scottish Cheltenham Trials is a great addition to the jumps calendar with some very valuable races and it’s one that owners and trainers aim for throughout the season. Another important element is that we can use these trials to see how good our horses are before we take them to Cheltenham and, in that respect, these prep races are very exciting for us and the owners.”

Quito Du Tresor is entered for both the Champion Chase (2.30) and the Scottish County Hurdle (4.00) but Russell revealed that the Chase looks favourite. She said: “At the moment it is looking more like the Chase and, from there, we will go to Cheltenham for the two-mile Grand Annual handicap.

“We also have Santa’s Son in the Chase and this will be a prep race for Aintree’s Grand National meeting where we are aiming for the Topham Chase.

“The other horse we are really excited about is Bold Sir Brian (John Smith’s Future Champions Novices’ Chase 3.30), who is an excellent novice chaser, probably one of the best horses we have this season, and may get an outing at one of the Cheltenham novice chases.”