Richard Hughes fails in appeal against six-day ban

Hughes had been closing on Paul Hanagan in his bid to land the title

Title-chasing jockey Richard Hughes has failed in his appeal against a ban and will miss seven days' racing.

The suspension, to start on 16 October, was handed out after Wolverhampton stewards found he had caused multiple interference through careless riding.

Hughes, who won the race in question, a handicap on board Aviso last Saturday, admitted the offence but appealed against the length of the ban.

Paul Hanagan leads him by 11 wins, with the season ending on 6 November.

Hughes said: "It's frustrating but there's nothing I can do about it and I've just got to keep going as hard as I can up until the day I'm banned.

"Then I'll have to assess things when I get back. I'll give it a go and do my best, that's all I can do."

Hughes' solicitor, Andrew Chalk, added: "As you would expect, Richard presented a strong case for a reduction in penalty and he thought that he'd done more than enough to get a result.

"We await the reasons but, in all the circumstances, Richard is understandably extremely disappointed with the outcome."

Hughes incurred a six-day ban for the main offence, which will run on 16 October and then 18-22 of that month, with a separate ban to run on Sunday, 17 October, effectively ruling him out for the whole week.

That ban, for using his whip with excessive frequency on Tallawalla, was not appealed against by the jockey.

The first day of his ban coincides with Champions' Day at Newmarket.