Henderson brands sentencing 'harsh'

TRAINER Nicky Henderson said the three-month ban handed to him by the British Horseracing Authority on Friday was "harsh" and added that it would have an impact on the season ahead for the leading jumps stable.

Henderson learned of his fate on Friday morning, having last week been found guilty of using a prohibited substance on the Queen's Moonlit Path at Huntingdon in February. He was also hit with a record-breaking £40,000 fine.

In a prepared statement, Henderson said: "I am obviously hugely relieved that this saga has been concluded and, even though this seems a harsh sentence, we accept the findings and can now look forward again to the future and an exciting season ahead.

"As we are unable to have any runners for three months in our name, it is going to be all the more difficult to emulate last season's amazing results, but this will make us try even harder to do so.

"Although the medication should not have been administered, I can only reiterate, as the panel has accepted, that it was only given in the interest of the welfare of Moonlit Path herself.

"The support that I and allthe family and the team have received over the last very testing weeks has been quite overwhelming and, under the circumstances, so much appreciated.

"My owners, fellow trainers, both National Hunt and Flat, so many friends, everyday racegoers have given us so much encouragement and backing. I can only thank you all enormously - and this includes my legal team. I simply cannot tell you how much it has meant to me and everybody at Seven Barrows."

Don't miss Saturday's Racing Post for the full reaction to Nicky Henderson's punishment and the Moonlit Path case - click to buy the newspaper online from 9am