Micheal Nolan to appeal against 12-day ban for taking wrong course on cross-country favourite

Micheal Nolan will appeal against his 12-day suspension for taking the wrong course on favourite Tommie Beau in the Glenfarclas Cross Country race at Cheltenham on Friday.

The jockey said he intended to review the decision of the stewards, who deemed he took the incorrect course after three out when leading on the 100-30 shot.

The incident took place as runners approached the crossing on to the main course with Tommie Beau going on the inside of the rail. He was quickly pulled up after the incident as Sweet David went on to win for France-based trainer Gabriel Leenders.

Nolan did not comment ahead of the appeal but Tommie Beau's trainer Seamus Mullins sympathised with the jockey.

He said: "It's just one of those things that happens in racing, and particularly in these sort of races. When you enter a horse in cross-country races you have to factor in that things like this can happen. It's part of what the course is like. The main thing is that the horse and rider were fine after the race.

"I'm not sure if we'd have won the race as the winner was quite impressive. He [Tommie Beau] stayed well and jumped well, so at least we know we can look at these races again. Simon [Prout, owner] and I have no great ambition to come back for the Cheltenham Festival race but there are options in France we can look at."

Nolan spoke to ITV Racing after the race, describing it as "very unfortunate", and added: "He just ducked left on me, so it's just one of those things. As soon as he went left with me I had little time to react. Maybe I rode him too close to the inner, but you're trying to cut every corner in these races. It's disappointing."

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