Luke Comer Jnr appeals severity of training ban

LUKE Comer Jnr has lodged an appeal against the severity of the sanction handed to him by the Referrals Committee last week. The trainer was suspended for 12 months following the discovery of equine remains on his property, a case which had come before the courts last year.

The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board has also lodged an appeal with the Appeals Panel in relation to the 12-month suspension.

Irish entries for Thursday races at Doncaster

AIDAN O’Brien has entered Ecstatic and January for next Thursday’s Group 2 Betfred May Hill Stakes at Doncaster. The likely favourite is Desert Flower, who has made quite an impression on her first two starts for Charlie Appleby, dominating on her Newmarket July course debut before doubling her tally with a six-and-a-half lengths victory at the same track last month.

The other Group 2 on Thursday’s card is the Betfred Park Hill Stakes. Joseph O’Brien has four possibles in Belhaven, Dancing Tango, Derida and Thunder Roll, while his father Aidan has a pair of hopefuls in Grateful and Port Fairy, and Dermot Weld could send Give Thanks Stakes winner Shamida.

The most valuable race of the day is the Weatherbys Scientific £300,000 2-Y-O Stakes, with Aidan O’Brien’s Group 3 victor Ides Of March and the Group 2-placed Camille Pissarro among the 28 juveniles to stand their ground at the confirmation stage.

Aidan O’Brien is responsible for the first three in the ante-post betting on next Saturday’s Betfred St Leger - Illinois, Jan Brueghel and Grosvenor Square.

Crystal Black to

miss Melbourne Cup

ROYAL Ascot hero and leading Melbourne Cup contender Crystal Black has been ruled out of a trip to Australia after suffering a setback.

The six-year-old has won each of his four starts this season for the father-son combination of Ger and Colin Keane, sparking scenes of wild celebration in the Ascot winner’s enclosure in landing the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes in June.

Having since progressed to Pattern company with a dominant Group 3 success in Leopardstown’s Ballyroan Stakes, the six-year-old was all set to head to Flemington with leading claims, but he was not among the initial nominations and his trainer has revealed he will sit out the rest of 2024.

“He’s had a bit of a setback and is going to go on his winter break,” said Keane.

“It’s nothing serious. He got a viral infection and his bloods were very low and he wasn’t himself. You’d have to be pushing him to run in it, so it wouldn’t be the right thing to do and it wouldn’t be fair on the horse.”