Barry Geraghty will hope his sole ride at Fairyhouse today, That's A Wrap, can provide a timely tonic after the former champion jockey confirmed he is to appeal the shock 30-day "non-trier" ban he picked up at Limerick on Sunday.
The suspension rules Geraghty out of the Punchestown festival later this month and is one of the most severe penalties handed out to any jockey in recent years, never mind one of the most high-profile and successful riders in Irish racing history.
Geraghty described himself as “shocked” following Sunday’s penalty which came after he finished runner-up on the JP McManus owned Noble Emperor in a handicap hurdle won by Velocity Boy.
Appeal pending
All six jockeys who finished behind the front-running winner appeared before a steward’s inquiry. However it was Geraghty who was hit with a 30-day suspension. Noble Emperor was banned from racing for 60 days while his trainer
Tony Martin
was fined €3,000 under the Turf Club’s Rule 212.
“I will be lodging an appeal but I can’t make any further comment with the appeal pending,” said Geraghty. Any other appeals in relation to the Limerick race have to be lodged with the Turf Club by close of business today. Geraghty’s ban is due to start on April 17th.
Geraghty is in his first season as number one jockey to McManus and has a number of options to pick from for the owner in this Saturday’s Crabbie’s Aintree Grand National, a race he famously won in 2003 on board Monty’s Pass.
It was also in 2003 that he was voted RTÉ’s Sports Personality of the Year.
The Limerick stewards penalised Geraghty under the Turf Club’s Rule 212, which governs running and riding, after they concluded the jockey had failed to take all reasonable and permissible measures to obtain the best possible placing.
The 30-day suspension is notable for its severity in relation to such a high-profile jockey.
In April of 2005, amateur rider Michael Purcell was banned for 50 days and fined €2,000 under the same Rule 212. Purcell was riding in a bumper event at Cork when finishing second on the Charles Byrnes trained Laetitia who was runner up to her stable companion, Alpha Royale.
Conditional jockey
Laetitia was banned from racing for 60 days in the same inquiry. Laetitia’s owner, Mary Hayes, subsequently had an appeal against the horse’s suspension rejected by the Turf Club’s Referrals Committee.
In July of 2013, conditional jockey, Thomas Doran, was banned for 50 days under ‘non-trier’ rules after riding the James Nash-trained Massini’s Trap at Ballinrobe.
Among senior professional jockeys, Shay Barry was given a 21 day suspension after a race in Gowran in 2013 while David Casey also fell foul of Rule 212 at Killarney in 2010 when banned for 14 days. Flat jockey Gary Halpin was suspended for 21 days at Navan in 2014.
The McManus-owned That's A Wrap lines up in a novice handicap hurdle at Geraghty's local track where he rode five winners during the recent Easter festival. The horse has been raised 8lbs for his last success at Punchestown but looks to face a formidable rival in Edvardo.
Seven Nation Army was runner-up four times over hurdles for his former trainer Tom George and brings experience to the opening maiden where he will be saddled by Henry De Bromhead.
