English jockey Sam Waley-Cohen will appeal a controversial seven-day ban for easing up on Long Run, saying he was trying to look after the horse.
Waley-Cohen sent his mount straight to the lead in a race at Carlisle in his first start for 672 days.
The 2011 Gold Cup winner jumped well for much of the three miles (4800m) but a couple of significant errors led to him coming under pressure.
Long Run looked sure to finish third after jumping the final fence, but was eased and stopped to a walk on the run-in, being passed by two other horses.
Waley-Cohen was found guilty of failing to take all reasonable and permissible measures to obtain the best possible placing in that he failed to ride out on a horse that could have finished third.
The owners of Long Run announced his retirement immediately after the race.
“The main thing is that he has retired happy and healthy. He’s been a great servant,” Waley Cohen told At The Races.
“You have to act in the best interests of the horse, it’s disappointing to pick up a ban and I am going to be appealing as it didn’t feel it reflected the situation fully.”
Waley-Cohen’s ban would rule him out of next month’s Fox Hunters’ Chase at Aintree, a race he has won three times before.
