Dwyer appeal date set

Martin Dwyer's appeal against an increased suspension of eight months in India is set to be heard on September 7.

The Derby-winning jockey was initially given a 56-day ban following a race in February, which he was already appealing, but was hit with a revised sentence at a hearing in Mumbai earlier this week.

Dwyer, 38, finished a narrow third on market leader Ice Age at Mahalaxmi racecourse on February 17, which prompted an angry response from racegoers.

His initial suspension was due to run from April 6 to May 31 this year - but the stewards of the Royal Western India Turf Club, who ruled the filly was not ridden on her merits, concluded on Monday that Dwyer should be given a far stiffer punishment.

Dwyer told Channel 4's The Morning Line: "I'm struggling to get my head around the whole thing. As far as I'm aware, from my spokesman who was in the room at the last inquiry, there was no new evidence.

"At this moment in time I'm still waiting for the minutes of that meeting to be sent to me.

"As far as where it goes from now I've just got to try and have confidence in the next procedure which is the appeal in India.

"I was emailed last night and the date has been set for September 7. It's a new appeal, I'm free to ride until then so I've got to try to be confident, put my effort into preparing my case for the appeal, have some faith in the appeal board and hope it works out.

"I've had many good years in India, I've been very successful there. I've never had a day's suspension in India, I've some wonderful friends there and I've won some big races. I've been very lucky and I just hope it works out."

A head-on video of the race showed Ice Age appearing to drift towards the rail in the closing stages, bumping the eventual runner-up and causing Dwyer to snatch up his mount.

The RWITC stewards called an inquiry and announced the horse was to be deemed a non-starter, with all bets refunded.

Afterwards Dwyer suggested his mount was not moving correctly and suffered a nosebleed, and remains of the opinion that was the cause of the filly's waywardness.

He said: "During the course of the race the filly was quite erratic. I positioned her as well as I could and off the last bend for home I had three lengths to make up, I gave her a couple of backhanders and she ran away from the whip.

"At one point she ran into the rail, I extracted her from in behind horses and produced her with a challenge and then she hung left. As I was correcting her from hanging left I put my stick down and thought I was going to win hands and heels and the last bit she dived on top of horses.

"The jockeys on the inside were screaming at me to keep straight and I had to correct her as she wiped them out, I brought her back and she did it again.

"After the race, as soon as she bled I thought 'that's the reason'."

Dwyer said he was fully appreciative of the support he has received from trainers in Britain.

He went on: "The race video has been shown so many times that people have watched it and seem to be on my side, they can see clearly that I haven't done anything wrong.

"I don't know how it has ended up that way, but I don't think it has affected my business as people have supported me. I'm very lucky and very grateful."