Billy Loughnane’s bid to become champion jockey hit by 21-day ban

Billy Loughnane, who will be Britain’s youngest champion jockey on the Flat since Frank Wootton in 1909 if he takes the title this season, has lodged an appeal against a 21-day ban imposed by the stewards at Southwell for riding a horse back to the unsaddling enclosure after it had been scratched from a race on vets’ orders.

Loughnane’s mount, Beelzebub, was kicked at the start before the final race on Thursday evening and deemed to be lame following a veterinary examination. Loughnane, who was suspended for improper riding, has appealed against both the finding of the stewards’ inquiry and the penalty.

If his appeal is unsuccessful, Loughnane will be on the sidelines from 9 April to 30 April, ruling him out of both the three-day Craven meeting at Newmarket, which includes several Classic trials, and the Greenham Stakes meeting at Newbury.

He will return in time for the start of the championship race on 2 May, but a three-week “holiday” in the early weeks of the turf campaign will still be a source of considerable frustration for the 20-year-old, who has made no secret of his ambition to win the title.

Loughnane is currently around 6-4 to take the 2026 jockeys’ championship, behind Oisin Murphy, the reigning champion, at 4-6. Rossa Ryan is a 10-1 chance and it is 12-1 bar three.

Meanwhile, a maximum field of 22 is due to go to post for the Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster on Saturday, the first big betting race of the new Flat season on turf, and William Haggas has an obvious chance to extend his strong record in the race with a progressive four-year-old, Eternal Force (3.32).

Haggas has won the Lincoln a record five times, with four of those successes coming since 2007, and while the race has a well-earned reputation for upsets, including winners at 33-1, 28-1 and 18-1 since 2022, all four of Haggas’s wins this century have set off at single-figure odds.

Eternal Force is vying for favouritism on Saturday with Harry Eustace’s La Botte, one of just five runners in the field with an outing already this season, but Haggas’s strong record in the early months of the season gives added confidence that Eternal Force, the winner of his last three starts in 2025, will extend his streak to four at Town Moor this weekend.

Doncaster 1.20 Dylan Cunha has saddled the winner and sixth (beaten two-and-a-quarter lengths) in the Brocklesby, the traditional season-opener on turf for unraced juveniles, over the past two seasons so Step To Glory might outrun his early odds of around 16-1.

Doncaster 1.50 The five-year-old My Mate Alfie was a pricey purchase in the autumn and his close second in a Group Three last summer gives him a big chance.

Kempton 2.08 James Owen has given Lavender Hill Mob a break since a disappointing run over hurdles in December and he was a ready winner for useful claimer Mason Paetel off a similar mark last season.

Doncaster 2.25 Harry Eustace has a 28% strike-rate in 2026 and his four-year-old Principality’s latest win came off his current mark of 88 on good-to-soft ground at Goodwood.

Kempton 2.42 A couple of the market principals have a high draw to overcome so Marhaba Ghaiyyath could be a fair alternative at around 7-1.

Doncaster 2.57 Kevin Ryan’s Volterra remains lightly-raced for a five-year-old and has strong form when returning from a break.

Kempton 3.13 Survie and Cathedral are well clear on ratings and the latter’s close fourth at the Breeders’ Cup is the best form on offer.

Meydan 4.10 The world’s top-rated racehorse, Calandagan, will be a short price to add another huge prize to his CV.

Meydan 4.45 The 2025 Japanese Horse of the Year, Forever Young, was the beaten favourite in last year’s Dubai World Cup but found further improvement later in the campaign and is poised to take his career earnings past £28m.