Racing:Kieren Fallon was resigned to losing a ride on a genuine contender for the Qipqo 2000 Guineas after partnering Native Khan to success in the Breeze Up Vendors Craven Stakes at Newmarket today
The Clare-born jockey Fallon plans to appeal against the 10-day suspension that currently rules him out of the two-day Guineas meeting at the same venue.
The six-times British champion jockey was found guilty of not riding to the finish aboard Sukhothai in the Racing At skysports.com Handicap at Kempton on Wednesday night.
The James Fanshawe-trained three-year-old finished third, a short head behind runner-up Watered Silk.
Fallon is set to be sidelined between April 27th and May 6th and while he plans to appeal, he does not expect the decision to be reversed.
Speaking after his success on board the Ed Dunlop-trained horse this afternoon, Fallon said: “I’m going to appeal anyway but I won’t hold my breath.
“I’d like to ride Native Khan here but there are plenty of other good jockeys around. The rules are the rules and I was doing my best. I think the second horse would have got me anyway.”
Dunlop has not yet confirmed the grey for the first Classic of the season but is clearly tempted after a solid, if unspectacular, effort in this long-established trial.
A winner of his first two starts before finishing fourth in the Racing Post Trophy, the 8-11 favourite was slightly on-edge in the preliminaries but was professional enough during the race as he came two lengths clear of Libranno.
The Greenham Stakes-bound Frankel remains an odds-on favourite for the Guineas, while Native Khan was unchanged at 16-1 by Ladbrokes and Coral.
“I won the Guineas on King’s Best in 2000, and he ran a similar sort of race in the Craven,” said Fallon. “It wasn’t the strongest race, he’s still babyish, but he’s right there.”
Dunlop added: “Coming here was an afterthought we were going to go straight to a Guineas but he came to hand quicker than I thought and I’m glad we ran.
“He has always been a bit bouncy and was about 85 per cent today. He will go for a Guineas but we have to decide which. He is French-bred, so that’s an option, but I am certainly not ruling out coming back here.
“The only thing is that he will not run anywhere where there is any soft in the ground. He could well be a French Derby horse but I want to run in a Guineas first.”
“I liked her last year but she had a setback which kept her off. I hoped she’d be in the first four so I’m pleasantly surprised.”