WAYNE LORDAN won his appeal against suspension and will take the ride on Unsung Heroine in Saturday’s Ladbrokes St Leger.
Unsung Heroine is a 17-2 fourth favourite with Sportingbet and is fancied to run a big race for trainer Tommy Stack, the former jump jockey who rode Red Rum to his historic third victory in the Grand National in 1977.
Stack and all the connections of Unsung Heroine are delighted that the Irish jockey was give the green light to ride their unbeaten filly following an appeal against a riding ban.
Lordan was due to be suspended for three days from today until Saturday after being found guilty of careless riding at Tipperary’s evening meeting on August 28. But he won his appeal with the Irish Turf Club stewards reducing the ban by 24 hours and he is now able to ride the twice-raced daughter of High Chaparral.
Stack’s son and assistant, Fozzy, said: “It’s a big relief that he can ride her. It has been a bit nail-biting really but he rides her well and there’s no point in breaking a winning combination.
“It’s great that it’s all worked out in the end. The filly is well and she leaves for Doncaster tonight.”
Had Lordan not won his appeal Jamie Spencer was being lined up as a replacement, but he will now partner one of former boss Aidan O’Brien’s raiding party.
The Ballydoyle handler has eight entries and is likely to pencil in several of those at today’s final declaration stage.
Spencer, who had a disappointing time as stable jockey to the Ballydoyle operation in 2004, does not yet know which horse he will ride.
The champion jockey said: “I ride something of Aidan’s, whatever he puts me on. He’ll make a decision in the morning so we shall see.
“His runners look to have good chances and it’s an open race. I spoke to him on Monday so I had to make up my mind.”
Doncaster’s four-day St Leger meeting got under way yesterday with ground conditions riding soft with recent Haydock winner Perks showing his liking for easy ground and enhancing his Cambridgeshire claims when winning the Hire From Hewden Conditions Stakes under Jimmy Quinn.
John Dunlop’s three-year-old readily accounted for his two rivals by three lengths and is now vying for favouritism for next month’s Newmarket contest.
He is a best-priced 10-1 with William Hill, Coral, BetDirect, Stan James and Betfred.
Quinn said: “The nine furlongs there would suit him, and the way the weather is going you would take even-money rather than 10-1 about him getting his ground.”
The ground could stay on the soft side for the St Leger as clerk of the course David Williams said: “We had a total of seven millimetres of rain yesterday and I changed the ground this morning to soft, good to soft on the home straight and soft on the round course.
“The forecast for this afternoon is possibly for one to two millimetres of rain which certainly isn’t the predicted amount that they thought we might get.
“We are forecast to get three or four millimetres tomorrow going into Friday but it’s looking better for St Leger day on Saturday.”
Meanwhile, Doctor Fremantle has been backed into a general 10-1 chance to break Sir Michael Stoute’s St Leger hoodoo on Saturday.
TODAY’S NAP: Stevie Gee (4.50pm Doncaster).
