Kieren Fallon will miss the ride on Iscan in the Rothmans Royals St Leger at Doncaster on September 11th after receiving a five-day suspension for careless riding at Ripon yesterday afternoon.
The ban, which rules the champion jockey out of the final three days (September 9th to 11th) of the Leger fixture, as well as September 13th and 14th, was for Fallon's riding of Yeast, winner of the Deverell Claiming Stakes.
The pill was sugared by a near 56 to 1 four-timer, following a treble at Newcastle on Monday, but nevertheless puts Fallon's attempt to become the first jockey of modern times to ride three consecutive double-centuries - the last was Sir Gordon Richards in 1952 - under threat.
The stewards found that, approaching the bend out of the back straight, Yeast had interfered with Alpine Hideaway, who had in turn hampered Archello and Special-K, whose apprentice rider Glen Sparkes was unseated and had to be taken to Harrogate District Hospital suffering from concussion and injuries to his thumb and shoulder.
Fallon, who has already won three of this season's four Classics, was due to ride Iscan, an unlucky loser in Goodwood's March Stakes on Saturday, for Michael Stoute and Sheikh Mohammed.
Now connections must seek a replacement for the colt, 6 to 1 favourite for the Leger with Coral. Fallon, who will not contest the stewards' decision, is set to leave Britain to ride in Hong Kong at the end of the October and finished yesterday on the 163-winner mark.
Stewards' secretary Nicky Vigors, explaining their course of action, said: "They considered that he allowed the horse to drift over before he was clear of the horses on his inside, and he should have been aware that, by allowing the horse to drift to his right, that interference would be the result.
"It wasn't considered to be irresponsible - he didn't purposely take it across, he allowed it to drift, and thought he was clear of them when he wasn't, so really you could say it was misjudgement, which put it into the careless category of riding offences."
Fallon completed his quartet on Murchan Tyne in the Weatherbys Finance Handicap after winning the Steve Nesbitt Challenge Trophy Nursery on Happy Times and the Armstrong Memorial Stakes aboard Westender.
Westender's win, along with those of Yeast and Punctuate, ridden by Michael Hills, in the Claro Conditions Stakes, gave William Haggas the first treble of his training career. It also gave Haggas his third success in this race.
Adrian Maguire gave Irish Stamp an inspired ride to win the £13,991 Prix Jacques du Roy de Blicquy (2m 7f chase) at Waregem, Belgium, yesterday. Always handy on his favoured fast ground, Irish Stamp (39-10) led approaching the third last and stayed on strongly to beat D'Une Rose by a length.
Although trained by Richard Chotard in France, Ferdy Murphy is still very much involved with the horse and he was fullsome in his praise of Maguire.
He said: "Adrian Maguire gave him a very good ride. It is possible that he may go for the Gran Premio Merano, Italy's top chase, on September 26th."
Mark Johnston's White Heart (John Reid) staged a 113-10 upset in an eventful edition of the £27,076 Group 3 DarleyOettingen Rennen (1m) at Baden Baden yesterday. White Heart got home by a length from the rank outsider Intruder (66-1), with John Dunlop's odds on Haami (Richard Hills) a length and a quarter further back in third.
Gorse, Henry Candy's Phoenix Sprint Stakes winner, bids for his biggest success yet in the £45,956 Group 2 Goldene Peitsche (6f) at Baden Baden today. Out to complete a group race hat-trick in Germany's top sprint, John Reid's mount may have most to fear from France's Keos and local hope Tertullian. Reid also rides Fulke, Johnson-Houghton's Spunkie in the £15,441 Listed Badener Steher Cup (2m) on the same card.
