24 hours after the biggest win of his career, young jockey Tom Kelly must decide whether to appeal a 14-day ban and loss of riding fee imposed by the stewards at Sligo on Tuesday evening.
Kelly won the Connacht National Handicap Chase at Roscommon on Monday on board Eric McNamara’s Hermino AA but found himself in front of the stewards after finishing second on the Charles Byrnes-trained Glin Road Boy in a two-mile handicap hurdle at the west of Ireland track.
The five-year-old gelding made progress from the back to finish second in the final strides having been held up for the early part of the race which had 16 runners.
Glin Road Boy, originally a reserve, drifted in the market on his debut for the Ballingarry stable, with a Starting Price of 22/1 (replay below).
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Kelly told the stewards the horse was making a noise throughout the race but that he didn’t think it necessary to pull him up.
The stewards' report confirmed: “T.J. Kelly stated that his instructions were to get his mount to finish out his race in the best possible position. He further stated that his mount jumped off a bit keen, took a while to settle, was gurgling and making a noise throughout the race.
"He felt that at the back of the third last he put his mount into the race to finish in the best possible position and was satisfied he did all he could to ride his mount out to the line."
The stewards, however, decided Kelly’s mount had not "been the subject of a genuine attempt to obtain from the horse timely, real and substantial efforts to achieve the best possible place.
Kelly was suspended for 14 days, ordered to forfeit his riding fee and Glin Road Boy was banned from racing for 60 days.
It is the second time in a matter of weeks that a horse trained by Byrnes has been the subject of stewards action, the trainer's son, Philip, having been given a 21-day ban for a ride which was "which was far below that of a competent and careful rider" at Limerick last month.
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