Kieren Fox given 10-day suspension at Wolverhampton Jockey Kieren Fox was been handed a 10-day ban after the stewards deemed his mount to be a non-trier in the seven furlongs novice at Wolverhampton on Tuesday evening. Fox, 37, finished fourth of the nine runners in the Sky Sports Racing Sky 415 Novice Stakes on the Charlie Pike-trained 40-1 outsider Missmisfortune. However after an inquiry into the ride, and after interviewing both Fox and the trainer’s representative, the Wolverhampton stewards decided the jockey had made insufficient effort from the two-furlong marker. The stewards questioned Fox on his efforts inside the final furlong noting that he used his whip just once after that and appeared to ride “with a questionable level of vigour” to the finish. Fox had countered he believed he was “at his strongest” in that period, and Pike’s representative said they were happy with the ride given adding that Missmisfortune was a difficult partner. However, the stewards’ report said: “Fox was suspended for 10 days for failing to take all reasonable and permissible measures to ensure his horse was run on its merits. “Having initially failed to put his mount in a position from where it could best mount a challenge by not asking Missmisfortune to improve having taken her off the rail approaching the two-furlong marker, he then appeared to ride without sufficient vigour for periods in the home straight.” Fox was suspended for 10 days from October 27-31 and November 2-6. The rider, who returned to the saddle in February after a six-year spell out of the sport, has 238 British career winners, with 15 of those this year.
