Racing: Dettori can ride Authorized despite ban

A cloud drifted across Frankie Dettori's golden summer yesterday, in the form of a two-week ban for misuse of the whip at Royal Ascot. The forceful ride he gave the Godolphin colourbearer Ramonti to win the Queen Anne Stakes may have produced the right result on the day, but it broke the rules in spades.

At a disciplinary hearing in London the Italian held his hands up, apologised for his transgressions, and will begin an enforced holiday today week. The suspension means that Dettori will miss the final card of Newmarket's prestige July meeting, and with it the ride on Bygone Days in the feature sprint, the July Cup. But the silver lining for him is that the timing of yesterday's proceedings and verdict not only freed him to ride Authorized in tomorrow's Eclipse Stakes, but also means, assuming all goes to plan at Sandown, that he can be back on his Derby hero in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at the end of the month.

Ramonti won the Queen Anne Stakes by two short-heads, rallying most bravely under maximum pressure to regain the lead from Jeremy in the final strides and become Godolphin's first domestic Group One winner since Punctilious took the 2005 Yorkshire Oaks, and his jockey's first on home soil in the blue silks since Sulamani in the 2004 York International.

But the Ascot stewards took a dim view of Dettori's efforts, decided that the seven days they could impose there and then would not be sufficient punishment and sent him on to their more powerful colleagues at the Horseracing Regulatory Authority headquarters. The original planned date for the disciplinary hearing, yesterday week ago, was a non-starter because Dettori, then in the middle of a six-day suspension, was on a family holiday in Sardinia. Had he been available, his inevitable lengthy ban would have meant his missing the Eclipse and the whole July meeting. The rescheduling of the enquiry to yesterday was, as they say, a result.

The technicalities of the case are that Dettori was accused under Rule 153 (iii) and Instruction H9, which deal with improper riding and, in particular, the notion of hitting a horse with excessive frequency and failing to give it time to respond. The detail was that Dettori was found to have whipped five-year-old Ramonti 25 times inside the final two and a half furlongs, with a high percentage of strikes coming inside the last 200 yards. The jockey admitted his breach of the rules, though pointed out that his mount was "an experienced older horse, who did continue to respond to the use of the whip."

Ramonti does not appear to have suffered from the experience - the Godolphin vet reported that he was in good shape on his return home from Ascot, ate up that night, and was out walking and jogging the following morning - and is on course for the Sussex Stakes. Kerrin McEvoy will replace Dettori on Bygone Days next week.

Authorized will have a maximum of seven rivals in his bid to become the first Derby winner since Nashwan 18 years ago to follow up in the Eclipse Stakes. At yesterday's final confirmation stage they still included George Washington, a close and closing fourth in Ramonti's Queen Anne Stakes on his first run since returning from his failed stint at stud, but the testing conditions likely at Sandown may yet rule him out.

Seamie Heffernan, winner of Sunday's Irish Derby on Soldier Of Fortune, is booked to ride George Washington, with that mercurial colt's regular pilot Mick Kinane switched to stablemate Admiralofthefleet, proven on easy ground and the best-backed contender yesterday.

The field for the 10-furlong contest is completed by two more Ballydoyle three-year-olds, Archipenko and Yellowstone, last year's second Notnowcato, Kandidate and Authorized's pacemaker Champery.

Chris McGrath

Nap: Divine Spirit

(Beverley 8.15)

NB: Aureate

(Sandown 5.00)