BRAZILIAN jockey Raul da Silva, 31, who is based with Paul Cole, has been suspended for 21 days following an incident in the weigh room at Goodwood on Sunday which left former champion Jim Crowley with a swollen lip and a cut requiring stitches.

In the opening race it appears that Crowley, in company with other riders, took exception to da Silva’s race-riding tactics. They made this clear to him but Crowley claimed he was then the victim of an unprovoked attack.

“It felt like a piece of lead,” he said. “It is disappointing that I have been accused of being the aggressor and notable that after a lengthy inquiry (which lasted until after the last race and involved all officials in the weigh room), only one of us was suspended.”

The stewards found da Silva guilty of violent conduct and suspended him for the maximum period, 21 days.

There was no reference to lead and the matter is closed but the BHA reserves the right to revisit the case, should further details prove significant.

Caspian still has speed

THE truly remarkable sprinter Caspian Prince, now nine years old and trained by Michael Appleby, ran away with the valuable Edinburgh Gin’s Scottish Sprint Cup at 16/1 at Musselburgh on Saturday, passing the post nearly three lengths ahead of Major Jumbo, with the ultra-consistent El Astronaute and Move in Time next.

Very few sprinters are capable of this at nine. In a long and illustrious career, Caspian Prince has won the Epsom “Dash” three times for three different trainers: Tony Carroll, Dean Ivory and Tony Coyle.

Last year he followed his Epsom triumph with a close fourth in the Musselburgh race before scaling new heights at the Curragh, beating Marsha, no less, in the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes, in the hands of Declan McDonagh.

He goes for anyone, is happy to be trained by anyone and these high spots in Britain and Ireland follow a successful early career in France, where he was trained by Irishman Eoghan O’Neill.

In all he has won 19 of his 83 races, he was a second faster than the five-furlong standard time on Saturday and, if happens to ride fast at Glorious Goodwood, he will surely have a chance in the Group 2 King George Stakes.