'You can make one mistake and it costs you 14 days' - two-week ban for selling race winning rider

Jimmy Sullivan is resigned to his "big punishment for a little mistake" after being banned for 14 days for overusing his whip when winning a selling race at Musselburgh. 

The rider was found to have gone two strokes over the six-strike maximum when scoring on two-year-old plater Gray's Inn last Saturday, but the penalty, issued by the BHA's whip review committee on Tuesday night, was doubled as that seller was a Class 2 contest and Sullivan will be out of action from June 20 to July 3.

His penalty comes after former Professional Jockeys Association (PJA) chief executive Paul Struthers warned of growing discontent in the weighing room at the length of whip suspensions.

Reflecting on the ban, Sullivan said: "You can make one mistake and it costs you 14 days. That's a big punishment for a little mistake. At the time I didn't realise it was going to be doubled, it was only a seller and I never looked at the class of the race. It's a good chunk out of the season and at this time of year it will be a big loss to me. It's not ideal.

"If you make a mistake, you have to pay the penalty and I don't think I can appeal, the rules are there. It's disappointing but I did break the rules."

Jimmy Sullivan: "It's a good chunk out of the season and at this time of year it will be a big loss to me. It's not ideal"Credit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Gray's Inn was having only her second race and won narrowly, with just two heads and a neck between the first four home.

"I won by a head and it was the first time the filly had been in front," the jockey said. "You're trying not to do it but at the same time you're trying to win a race. I switched my mind off the stick trying to win and that's what caused it. I kind of had a feeling I might have gone over when I was pulling up.

"I did think when the new rules came in that the penalties were a bit severe. I can see where they're coming from, they're trying to help the public enjoy racing. But I'm not sure about doubling them when it's a Class 2, it gives the impression that they're giving more priority to the protection of better horses."

Struthers, who has been linked with a possible return to his former role at the PJA, highlighted in his blog the increase in bans handed out under the new rules and calculated there had been four years’ worth of cumulative suspensions in less than four months.

He wrote: "Not only is that a staggering amount, I have no doubt it is having a significant impact, both mentally and financially, on jockeys. Not just on those who have been suspended, but on those who are trying desperately to ride within the rules. It is well beyond time for the BHA to show the same adaptability as the jockeys have shown. Just because jockeys have been quiet, don't think that emotions are not running high."

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