Pipe fined £3,000 by Jockey Club

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A Jockey Club inquiry has found trainer Martin Pipe and jockey Jamie Moore guilty of a breach of the rules over the running and riding of Celtic Son.

The 14-times champion trainer, who was fined £3,000, called the disciplinary panel's findings "ridiculous".

Moore was handed a 21-day ban running from 21 February to 14 March - the day before the Cheltenham Festival.

Celtic Son has been barred from running for 40 days, ruling him out of a big novices' hurdle race at Cheltenham.

The inquiry looked at Celtic Son's run when fifth in the Gerrard Novices' Hurdle on 19 October at Exeter.

Pipe was found in breach of rule 155 (ii) in that he failed to give adequate instructions to Moore to ensure the horse ran on its merits.

The panel ruled Moore failed to take all reasonable and permissible measures to gain the best possible placing, with the intent to conceal the horse's ability.

Pipe contested the panel's finding, saying: "Jamie has definitely hit the horse.

"He says he hit it every time he brought down his whip, and I believe him - you can see it from the rear view on the video.

"How can you not hit a horse with the whip when you bring it down with that kind of force?

"You can't say from the video evidence that he didn't hit it. I am amazed that they seem to think otherwise."

Last year's champion conditional jockey Moore, 20, described his punishment as "an absolute joke".

"I have done my very best on the horse," he said. "I have driven him for a mile and hit him 10 times, more than any other rider in the race. It was a very unfair hearing."