Racing: Ban hits Callan's aim at apprentices' title

THE AMBITIONS of Neil Callan to become the apprentice champion were hit yesterday when he was given a 13-day ban under the "totting-up" procedure. The Irish rider, level at the top of the apprentices' table with Robert Winston on 30 winners, will be sidelined on each day there is Flat racing in Britain from Saturday until 6 August.

He was also handed a further six days' suspended sentence by the Jockey Club disciplinary committee, having been referred to Portman Square after passing the 15-day threshold with his third offence of causing interference within 12 months.

Apprenticed to Karl Burke, Callan was stood down for eight days at Bath last October and another seven at Wolverhampton in March and was referred to Portman Square for his riding of Stoppes Brow at Epsom a fortnight ago.

Burke said: "He will take it on the chin and hopefully it will not affect his chance of winning the apprentice title."

The conditional jockey Henry Oliver was also given a 15-day ban, with six days deferred, after accumulating 20 days of suspension for whip offences in the past year. Both young riders will also spend a day at the British Racing School on 31 August.

Pat Eddery is to have one more consultation with his specialist, Nigel Henderson, on Tuesday before making his comeback from a broken left hip. Eddery, who sustained the injury in a fall in Austria last month, was hoping to return on Monday after seeing Henderson yesterday.

But the Irishman, who broke two bones in his hip when his mount Heinsberg came down on the final bend of the Austrian Derby, has been advised to wait another 48 hours before race-riding again and is now targeting Wednesday for his resumption.