RACING NEWS: Jonjo O'Neill indicated his intention to appeal but remained tight-lipped as he left Jockey Club headquarters with a £6,000 fine yesterday. The Jackdaws Castle trainer was called to Portman Square over the running of his horse Top of the Left at Exeter last month.

And despite the efforts of his legal team, O'Neill was given the fine, having already been in breach of the 'non-triers' rules twice with different horses in December.

The disciplinary panel found that O'Neill had been in breach of the rules in that he had failed to give adequate instructions to ensure that the horse was ridden to obtain its best possible placing.

Top of the Left's jockey Tom Siddall was given a five-day suspension (February 21st-26th) for "failing to take all reasonable and permissible measures to achieve the best possible placing" and the horse banned from racing for 30 days (February 21st-March 22nd).

Siddall told the panel that his instructions had been "to settle him in, take his time, not to hit him behind the saddle, to do his best and knock him about because he had been off the track for just short of two years".

He admitted that he had appeared to use insufficient effort from the third-last flight and on reflection should either have pulled his mount up or been more vigorous and that his concern that the horse was getting tired had led him to let it come home in his own time. However, the panel did not accept that this was an adequate reason for not making an effort.

Furthermore, the panel was not satisfied that O'Neill had given adequate instructions bearing in mind the horse's lengthy lay-off and felt Siddall might have ridden differently had O'Neill given instructions as to what to do if the horse got tired; that is either to pull up or ride out. O'Neill has seven days in which to lodge his appeal.