TON McCOY'S agent Dave Roberts yesterday called for a full Jockey Club inquiry after the jockey was belatedly ruled out of the Martell Grand National meeting following a fall at Urtoxeter eight days ago.
McCoy was originally signed off for 10 days for concussion by racecourse doctor Andrew Toman. However, the Jockey Club's chief medical advisor Dr Michael Turner, ruling the initial ban "inappropriate", on Monday night increased it to 21 days, condemning McCoy to the sidelines during Aintree.
An angry Roberts said: "I've spoken to Tony and he's obviously upset, firstly in that the decision took so long to be made and secondly that he was informed at 10.30 at night, which is totally unsatisfactory," he said.
"Furthermore, the doctor at the race-course allowed Tony to drive home from Uttoxeter. If he was unconscious for three minutes this should never have been allowed.
"The job of the doctors is to make sure that jockeys get home safely and for that the doctors must be 100 per cent certain of procedures. For Tony to be allowed to drive home shows that this obviously wasn't the case. For Dr Turner to say the error has been rectified end of story is not acceptable.
"If a jockey or trainer makes a mistake they receive a suspension or a fine but we are not just dealing with whether someone hit a horse Six or seven times here we are dealing with jockeys' lives. The whole thing can't just be swept under the carpet and forgotten about a week later.
"There has to be an inquiry. I'll be speaking to different people this afternoon to consider what course of action to take and we'll decide our next move in the morning."
Dr Turner earlier defended his decision. "The situation is that in the Rules of Racing concussion is taken very, very seriously, as in all sports, because it is an injury which is cumulative in that you can only be concussed so many times before you suffer brain damage," he said.
"It is dealt with by three periods of suspension: two days, seven days and 21 days. The difference between seven and 21 days is the length of time a jockey is unconscious. If he is unconscious for less than 60 seconds it is seven days, and if it is more than 60 he gets 21 days automatically. These periods are tried and trusted and have been used for years.
"The racecourse doctor did not follow the Rules of Racing and handed Tony an inappropriate suspension, which had to be modified."
The chain of events leading to Turner's ruling looks certain to come under the Jockey Club microscope.
David Pipe, the Club's Director of Public Affairs, said: "When there is an apparent error a report will be sent by the racecourse to Director of Racecourse Services Tony Goodhew here before he decides on what action to take.
"The instructions are absolutely clear. If a jockey is unconscious for less than a minute he gets seven days and if he is out for more than a minute he gets 21 days.
"The 21-day rule has been looked at many times by experts who have found it to be appropriate and in line with other sports. In fact, most other contact sports give 28 days."
McCoy, leading rider at the Cheltenham Festival with three wins, including the Tote Gold Cup and the Smurfit Champion Hurdle, was due to ride Belmont King for Paul Nicholls in the Aintree feature. Richard Johnson will now take the ride.
