Controversy over Luke Morris ban

All-weather Finals Day at Lingfield could be missing one of its biggest names after Luke Morris received a controversial ban that left the trainer of the horse he rode "baffled".

Morris was on the mark aboard the Mark Loughnane-trained Charlie Lad in the five-furlong Bet&Watch Handicap, but had only just found out that he had received a five-day ban for an offence which had taken place in the opening contest some two and a half hours earlier.

Morris had ridden Apache Glory for the same trainer and finished a tailed-off last of the six runners, but the mare was subsequently found to be lame in the stables, the stewards then banning him under Rule 45.3 "in that he continued in the race when it was contrary to the mare's welfare to do so".

Clear in the race to be champion all-weather rider again this year, Morris told At The Races that he would talking to Professional Jockeys Association boss Paul Struthers about the possibility of an appeal.

"In the race, I rode the filly exactly the same as normal, she was held up. She'd won not long ago, so, you know, at the back of your mind you're thinking 'She could be flat' and she just wasn't ever going. I thought she's either flat or she's possibly bled, so I took a long glancing look, she hasn't bled, and she wasn't really going. She was moving absolutely fine. Physically she was in great shape, so I've just eased her down, looked after her, brought her home fine, let her hack back."

The stewards' inquiry found that although Apache Glory had initially been found to be "distressed" by the vet, she had appeared lame "upon subsequent examination".

"The vet's seen her in the chute coming off the track and she was absolutely fine," Morris explained. "Later on in the day she's returned lame and that's when they've called me for the inquiry, when she returned lame. But obviously coming off the track and up the chute, she's absolutely fine. I've looked after her the best I could, really.

"According to the stewards I should have pulled her up to a complete halt, but as the vet reported and as you could see on the film in the stewards' room, physically she was absolutely fine. She cantered back and moved absolutely fine.

"I'll talk to Paul Struthers with a view to appealing because I thought it was very harsh, to be honest."

Loughnane said that news of Morris's ban had left him baffled and praised the ride given by the jockey.

"If that was a young apprentice on her, they'd have drove her, and she probably would have broken a leg or something," he said. "He didn't get off her, but she was sound walking off the track and then when she got in she gave a lame step.

"I'm baffled by the whole thing, if I'm honest. He's in a no-win situation today and he looked after the filly. We have a filly to go home with and she's won nine races and she'll be worth something in the breeding shed so I'm happy that he did what he did but I'm baffled that she got a ban.

"We've been monitoring her for the last couple of hours. I'm going to leave her here for three days - she'll go to a surgery a couple of miles from here and she'll get a proper check-up. But I'm happy with what Luke did on her and if he does appeal, I hope he succeeds because he's a very good jockey and if that had been a youngster on her, I probably wouldn't have a filly going home."