Hughes loses appeal Richard Hughes has lost his appeal against the decision of the British Horseracing Authority disciplinary panel to reciprocate a 50-day suspension handed to the rider in India. The jockey was suspended in February having been found guilty by the stewards in India of "not following the trainer's specific instructions and thereby not allowing his mount Jacqueline Smile to run on its merits". He turned to the BHA after failing to have the ban overturned in India, but was unsuccessful in his application not to reciprocate the suspension. Hughes went to the BHA appeal board today, but that process too failed. The ban, which runs until April 29, dealt the Irishman a blow in his bid to claim a first jockeys' title. Hughes admitted he was "disappointed" at the decision and is looking forward to returning to racecourse action, ruling out taking the matter further. "I'm disappointed. That's it now," he said. "Can't wait to get back. I've 10 days to go." Jamie Stier, Director of Raceday Operations and Regulation for the BHA, said in a statement: "We would like to register on record that we recognise the frustration felt by Richard Hughes about this episode while at the same time endorsing the findings of both the Disciplinary Panel and the Appeal Board, who concluded that under the Rules of Racing the correct decision was to uphold the suspension imposed by the Royal Western India Turf Club. "The BHA stands behind the principle of reciprocity of penalties among recognised international racing bodies. Without reciprocity there is a risk of there being no effective measures to deter visiting participants from breaching the rules of the respective authority. "Similar applications to those lodged by Richard Hughes are, thankfully, few and far between. However, we will be looking to see if there are any lessons to learn which may assist the handling of such matters in the future."
