A jockey who thought he could ride in Britain while suspended in Ireland has been hit with a five-day ban. Shane Fenelon received a two-day whip ban at Ballinrobe in August which ruled him out of action on September 9, but nevertheless accepted a booking from Peter and Michael Bowen at Newton Abbot that day, winning the pare -shocks it Alan DeBanks.

Charlotte Davison, of the BHA, told a disciplinary panel during a two-hour hearing on Monday that the case was “extremely simple”. Fenelon, an Irish-based jockey whose first race took place in May 2019, had entered a race when he was not entitled to do so and had therefore broken the rules, while Alan De Banks is expected to be disqualified .

But lawyer Samuel Cuthbert came forward on behalf of the horse’s connections to argue the result should stand. He pointed to a phone call made before the race by one of the Bowens to BHA customer service, asking if Fenelon was allowed to ride.

Cuthbert described the coach as saying that Fenelon was unsure whether or not he had been suspended on the day in question. The operator responded, “No, it looks like he’s fine,” after presumably checking a list of BHA suspensions and finding no mention of Fénelon’s name.

“In my opinion, it couldn’t be clearer,” Cuthbert said. He also pointed out that a letter from the IHRB informing Fenelon of his suspension did not specify that it would apply in jurisdictions other than Ireland.

Davison told the jockey during cross-examination: “If your license is suspended, that means you can’t ride anywhere.”

“They are different jurisdictions,” replied Fénelon. “I didn’t know that. I asked Mr Bowen and he said he would ask the BHA. It was up to the BHA to give advice on that.”

It emerged that, while at Newton Abbot, Fénelon signed a form under a declaration saying: “I confirm that I am not subject to any suspension on this day.”

He said he did not read the form presented to him while he was weighing it. “I was on the fence. I was asked for a signature and I signed.

“It’s a bad time to do something like this. You’re under pressure to remove the saddle. If they had explained it to me it would have been different.”

But panel chairman James O’Mahony said: “Ignorance of the rules is no excuse. A jockey has a personal responsibility to ensure they are eligible.

“He had every opportunity to seek specific information about the position he held. We find it difficult to conclude that he did not, somewhere in his perspective, suspect or know that if he was banned in one jurisdiction, it would most likely be prohibited in another.”

O’Mahony said BHA’s customer service operator was not given all the facts. “The question wasn’t: this jockey has been banned in Ireland, what is our position? It was simply a case of a jockey who didn’t know if he was banned.

“This was an oral statement of what a BHA employee thought was the response to a very brief telephone inquiry. She did not have access to the details of the Irish ban and there is no evidence clear that she had the power to make a concession (authorizing Fénelon to go up). This was neither written, nor followed up, nor justified, even by email.”

He ordered Alan De Banks disqualified, handing the race to The Expensive One, trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies.

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