Banned pair to seek review

Eamon Tyrrell and Jason Behan, the trainer and jockey banned from racing for three years for not running Casela Park on its merits at Newcastle in August, will seek a judicial review.

"It's astonishing," said Tyrrell, trainer of Casela Park, who finished sixth, beaten only a couple of lengths and seemingly running on well after being subjected to what the British Horseracing Association's disciplinary panel described as "strong and persistent episodes of restraint".

The BHA disciplinary panel found the pair guilty of the offence after concluding that Behan's ride amounted to deliberately preventing his horse from winning. However, the County Kildare-based Tyrrell said: "I've been in touch with my solicitor."

Casela Park, who has raced only once since, was suspended from running for six weeks. Jim Kavanagh, the Irish Racehorse Trainers' Association chief executive, said: "I think the BHA have overreacted against two very small people and I feel the absence of legal representation for them was not a level playing field."

The BHA submitted that there were three aggravating features of the case: the nature of the ride itself, what they describe as "the dishonesty of the ride" and the untruthful accounts given by Tyrrell and Behan to both to the Newcastle stewards and the BHA panel.

The disciplinary panel saw no reason to treat the jockey more leniently than the trainer as "there was no hint that he was lent on to do what he did".