Racing: Scudamore earns four-day ban for whip misuse

PETER SCUDAMORE and Riverside Boy just hold the call over Boraceva on the final circuit at Taunton yesterday, but the champion jockey's stern encouragement on the way to victory over Just So earned him a four-day ban for whip misuse.

Scudamore was hard at work on his mount for much of the final lap of the Eldridge Pope Chase, at 4m 2 1/2 f the second longest race of the year, and seemed to have his perseverance rewarded when Riverside Boy had a neck to spare at the line.

A veterinary inspection revealed the 10- year-old was marked on his nearside quarters, however, provoking Scudamore's ban, from 30 January to 2 February.

Riverside Boy completed a hat-trick for Scudamore, following the wins of Land Of The Free and Valfinet, while the jockey's attempt at a four-timer foundered in bizarre circumstances aboard Elite Reg.

After discovering the horse's tongue-strap was missing, Carol Pipe, wife of trainer Martin, improvised by slipping into the toilets, removing her tights, and using them to hold down the gelding's tongue. Elite Reg, predictably, was then pulled up.

Photograph: Robert Hallam

(Photograph omitted)