Jockey Christophe Soumillon has been partially successful in his appeal against the eight-day suspension handed out by the stewards at Royal Ascot following his ride on the Aidan O'Brien-trained Puerto Rico in the St James’s Palace Stakes, the ban is now reduced to five.

An independent disciplinary panel chaired by Clement Goldstone KC and including Aidan Coleman and Grace Cheng sat last week and reconvened for final submissions and deliberations on Thursday morning.

The disciplinary panel said the lack of any clear intent from Soumillon to ride in a way to aid a stablemate was the key factor in reducing the ban, though his ride did assist Gstaad's efforts in the race, with the penalty instead being one of 'interference' rather than 'team tactics'.

Benefitting a stablemate

The panel stated: "We consider that, absent any intention on the part of [Soumillon] to benefit his stablemate, this breach should be dealt with as what is in effect a case of interference, significantly aggravated by the fact that it had the consequence of benefitting a stablemate.

"In those circumstances, we consider that an appropriate sanction is a suspension of five days. Accordingly, the disciplinary panel allows the appeal against sanction by reducing the period of suspension from eight days to five days."

The Belgian was riding one of two Aidan O’Brien-trained runners alongside eventual runner-up Gstaad, who was ridden by Ryan Moore.

Puerto Rico was prominent through the early stages before finishing last of the six starters.

Puerto Rico drifted left off the bend, causing some interference to Power Blue, who was fourth, and Soumillon had been seen to glance around during the race and again as they took the final bend.

The on-course officials held an inquiry to consider whether Soumillon had ridden “in a manner to benefit Gstaad”.

The stewards on the day suspended Soumillon for eight days, after viewing recordings and hearing evidence, including interviewing O’Brien by telephone, giving a ruling that he had ridden his mount “in such a way that intended to give an advantage to another horse from the same stable, in that he moved his mount away from the rail thereby ensuring a clear run for Gstaad on his inside”.

In defence, Soumillon said that suggestions that he moved out to provide Moore on Gstaad or any other rider with room as "absolutely nonsense" as there was already space for two horses on his inside for that segment of the race.

Rory Mac Neice, representing Soumillon, said at the appeal: “There are no allegations he was instructed to ride for another Coolmore horse. The BHA’s case is Mr Soumillon decided this all by himself – he was not asked to do it."

The rider had also claimed that the presence of a group of children on the inside of the track earlier in the day influenced his decision to swing wide into the home straight on Puerto Rico.