Fitzgerald could miss Marlborough Hennessy ride

Mick Fitzgerald is set to miss Newbury`s prestigious Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup meeting and the plum ride on Marlborough in the feature race after being handed a six-day ban for irresponsible riding of a major nature at Cheltenham today.

He was found guilty after his mount Surprising went across Telemoss, causing that horse to almost come down, after the third last of the Jockeys Employment & Training Scheme Hurdle landed by See You Sometime.

He is out of action from November 27 to December 3.

The jockey was understandably unhappy about the ban and declared: 'Six days is fairly harsh and I`ll have a look at the video with Michael Caulfield (executive manager of the Jockeys Association) and consider an appeal as I definitely don`t want to miss the Hennessy meeting again.

'I`ve missed it twice before in the past, once through injury and once through suspension. It`s a big meeting for myself and the boss, Nicky Henderson.

'They`ve done me for irresponsible riding and irresponsible riding in my reading of the rules is when you deliberately make a move that shows no regard for your fellow riders and that is not the case on this occasion.'

However, stewards` secretary Tony Gillam said: 'The stewards found that Mick Fitzgerald had made a manoeuvre to his left after the third last flight and he interfered with Telemoss, causing him to clip heels and nearly come down.

'The placings of the two horses get reversed automatically and five days is the minimum for irresponsible riding of a major nature and he got six because of the seriousness of what happened.'

See You Sometime held off Surprising in a driving finish with Telemoss recovering to be third. However, the placed horses were reversed after the stewards` inquiry.

On a busy afternoon for the stewards, they also banned Tom Scudamore for two days (November 27 and 28) after he had finished second aboard Gulshan behind Frenchman`s Creek in the Food Brokers` Handicap Chase.

Conditional jockey Ben Hitchcott was also in trouble after the officials found he had used his whip excessively on Wild Dream who was short-headed by Back In Front in the concluding bumper.

He will be sidelined for three days (November 27, 28 and 29).