Murtagh will miss next weekend's Irish Derby after Royal Ascot stewards found him guilty of using his whip with excessive force and frequency.

The Irish jockey received a similar ban after winning the same race last year on the same horse.

"I'm very disillusioned. I've won the Gold Cup and it's a total anti-climax," said Murtagh.

"I've done what I was told by the trainer and I've done my best for the owner and trainer.

"We are top jockeys and wouldn't hit them if they weren't responding.

"I've never felt so sick in my life," added the 32-year-old.

Royal Rebel's trainer Mark Johnston defended the jockey's ride, saying that the horse needed to be hard ridden.

"Let's be absolutely clear about this, you couldn't hurt this horse if you wanted to," said the Middleham trainer.

Explanation

"You can't speak to him, you can't talk to him, you've got to use every tool that you have got to try and get the message through."

The stewards took the unusual step of calling both Johnston and Royal Rebel's owner Peter Savill to give evidence at the inquiry into Murtagh's riding.

"There was some doubt among the stewards over the evidence Johnny Murtagh gave about the instructions he had received and so they called on Mr Savill," said Malcolm Wallace, the Jockey Club's director of regulation.

"They questioned him very closely and accepted his explanation that his instructions had not caused a breach of the rules."