RACING:RUBY WALSH'S appeal against his five-day ban under the new whip rules will be heard by the disciplinary panel of the British Horseracing Authority at 9.30 this morning.
The Co Kildare jockey was incensed at being found guilty of using the whip with excessive frequency when snatching a narrow victory on Edgardo Sol in the Betfred Bundles Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase at Aintree on October 22nd. He was deemed to have hit his mount once more than the permitted eight times.
Meanwhile, Paul Nolan is hoping Joncol can get back on track when he has his first race since February in the John Meagher Memorial Chase at Thurles today.
The Co Wexford trainer believes the 2010 Leopardstown Hennessy winner’s problems have been resolved, and is looking forward to a decent performance in the Listed contest over two and three-quarter miles.
“We’re very pleased at the moment. We are hoping we can get him back to running up to scratch again,” said Nolan. “He was disappointing last season and we’ve sorted out some problems.”
Roberto Goldback is having his first run since joining the Dessie Hughes’s team from Jessica Harrington. He looked desperately unlucky on his last start when he unseated his rider when holding a narrow lead at the final fence in the Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup in May.
“The conditions of the race suit him reasonably well, but also suit Cooldine very well. We have to give him 10lbs so we’ll see,” said Hughes.
