Racing/News round-up: SUSPENSIONS: Tony McCoy has decided not to appeal against the seven-day ban he picked up at Cheltenham on New Year's Day.
The champion jockey had been mulling over his options after the Prestbury Park stewards found him guilty of careless riding on third-placed Gotno Destination in the EBF 'Junior' Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race.
However, McCoy's personal assistant Gee Bradburne confirmed yesterday: "He is not going to appeal against the ban." McCoy will be out of action on January 12th to 15th and January 17th to 19th, ruling him out of big weekend cards at Kempton Park and Warwick.
Meanwhile, Jim Culloty fell foul of the Exeter stewards yesterday, picking up a four-day suspension for misusing his whip.
Culloty was penalised for his ride on the third-placed Eva So Charming in the Hatch Marquee Hire Novices' Chase. He will be out of action on January 14th, 15th, 17th and 18th.
BEST MATE: Best Mate's assistant trainer Terry Biddlecombe reports the triple Gold Cup winner to be "in excellent form" as he recovers from treatment for a cough.
The gelding was beset by a number of problems in last week's Lexus Chase, when he was beaten seven lengths by Beef Or Salmon, including a mistake at the first fence, unsuitably soft ground and a cut on his head on the way over to Ireland.
His handler Henrietta Knight subsequently revealed that Best Mate had started coughing a day after the race, and he was put on a week's course of antibiotics.
"I fed him this morning and he tried to knock me over," said Biddlecombe.
"He has only coughed for a couple of days - a dry cough, no runny nose. He is in excellent form and will be ridden out tomorrow. It was one of those unfortunate things. He had two or three things go wrong with him. Also, Beef Or Salmon is a very, very good horse, but come Cheltenham and good ground, it will be a different story."
MEADE'S PLANS: Noel Meade's Irish raider Wild Passion tops a list of 16 entries for the Grade One ladbrokes.com Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown on Saturday.
The five-year-old, who is already a winner at the highest level, was pulled out of an intended run at Naas on Sunday because of testing ground and he would be a possible runner if conditions were on the good side.
The extended two-mile event could attract another Grade One winner in Georgina Browne's Phar Bleu, while Martin Pipe has entered his eight-time winner Marcel, the current ante-post favourite for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle, while Howard Johnson could run the highly-promising Astronomic.
