Pat Eddery revealed that he has no intention of retiring from the saddle after making history at Southwell yesterday afternoon. The 11-times champion completed a century of winners for the 26th time in 27 years when landing the Minster Selling stakes on 14 to 1 shot Sirene.

"As long as I feel good riding and I'm enjoying it then I shall keep going," he said.

Victory on the juvenile filly, trained at Southwell racecourse by Mark Polglase, enabled Eddery to set a new British record, beating the 25 centuries Lester Piggott recorded in his highly successful career.

Eddery revealed that he was aware of the record, saying: "I knew quite early in the season about Lester's record but I got quite a bad fall in the summer and that held me up a bit.

"There's no real pressure when you get close, but there could have been had it dragged on. Thankfully it didn't as I had two winners at Wolverhampton on Saturday and I just needed this one today."

But there was a sting in the tail as he was banned for two days (December 10th/11th) for excessive use of the whip on Sirene.

He said: "I wanted to keep the filly going as she was idling in front. But the stewards viewed a recording of the race and felt that I had breached the rules."

Those two days are tagged on to a five-day whip ban Eddery collected at Wolverhampton on Saturday.

Noel Chance yesterday revealed he is to take out a Christmas "insurance policy" for his Cheltenham Gold Cup hope Looks Like Trouble.

The trainer intends running his stable star in the Pertemps King George VI Chase at Kempton on December 27th.

But he will also enter the seven-year-old in the following day's Ericsson Chase at Leopardstown as a precaution against bad weather.

Meanwhile, Benfica, the winner of the Smirnoff Handicap at Killarney on July 12th, was yesterday disqualified after an inquiry by the Turf Club's appeals and referrals committee. A prohibited substance, Flunixin, was found in the urine of the three-year-old.

The committee were satisfied that the substance was administered unknowingly and that the horse's trainer, Eddie Lynam, had taken all reasonable precautions to avoid a breach of Rule 148 (ii).

The race was awarded to Question Of Trust, trained by Tim Doyle, with Ciel D'or now placed second and Green Magical third.

And the Ashbourne trainer Al O'Connell has won his appeal against the decision by the Punchestown stewards to fine him £500 and ban his horse Whistling Rufo for 42 days after the Peggy Barry-Walsh Memorial INH Flat Race on October 3rd.

However, the appeals and referrals committee upheld the 21-day ban handed to amateur rider Robert Barnwell for making insufficient effort. The suspension starts on Thursday.

O'Connell had been accused of using the racecourse as a training ground after the four-year-old mare had finished 10th of 18 behind Peerless Motion when a 201 outsider.

Kevin Manning lost his appeal against a two-day ban for failing to attain the best possible placing on French Style at Clonmel on November 1st.

Aidan O'Brien's Saffron Walden, and Dermot Weld's Make No Mistake are in the entries for next year's Dubai Cup.