Hughes hit by eight day ban

Richard Hughes has been ruled out of the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond meeting at Ascot later this month after being banned for eight days at a hearing of the Discpilinary Committee of the Jockey Club in London today.

The Irishman has been suspended from July 23rd to 30th inclusive over his riding of Mick Quinn`s unplaced Rupert Of Hentzau at Yarmouth in the Dunston Selling Stakes on July 3rd.

Hughes, in his first season as retained jockey to Prince Khaled Abdulla, will miss 11 successive days having been handed a three-day (July 20th-22nd) ban by the Newmarket stewards yesterday for irresponsible riding of a minor nature on Bahrain Trophy winner Arrive.

The smaller ban rules him out of the Weatherbys Super Sprint meeting at Newbury but he will be able to return on the first day of Glorious Goodwood.

At Yarmouth, Hughes fell foul of Instruction H17, which governs jockeys riding to their draw, having been considered to have deliberately moved across from stall five as the stalls opened.

That was the jockey`s fifth breach of the instruction in the last 12 months, automatically earning him a visit to Portman Square.

The committee considered evidence from Hughes, who was legally represented and a letter from Matthew Henry who had ridden the colt on three occasions.

It also viewed video recordings of the race and one of Rupert of Hentzau`s previous races at Bath on June 16th.

The committee found that although Rupert Of Hentzau jumped right on leaving the stalls, he allowed the colt to continue drifting right before reaching the marker poles without attempting to keep him straight.

The committee did not consider that Hughes`s explanation that he did not realize he had drifted right was borne out by the evidence.