Racing: Dettori will not contest Deauville ban

It is less than three weeks since Lanfranco Dettori returned to race- riding after two months spent nursing a broken elbow, but already the Italian must resign himself to another week on the periphery. The jockey yesterday decided not to lodge an appeal against the four-day suspension he received at Deauville on Sunday, his second such ban in the space of five days, and he will be absent from our weighing rooms for seven days from Saturday.

"I'm not going to appeal. It just isn't worth it and that's as far as it goes," Dettori said yesterday. He had perhaps studied a video of the race, which clearly showed his whip accidentally striking the face of Luna Wells, who emerged as the winner of Sunday's race after the mounts of both Dettori and Willie Carson were disqualified.

The only welcome news for the champion jockey is that next Tuesday will be both the final day of one suspension and the first of the next, which means that he will be free to report for work on Saturday week, when the Group One Sprint Cup at Haydock could feature among his engagements.

Like a driver with 11 points on his licence, though, Dettori will be desperate to avoid a further brush with authority, since if he is found guilty of another riding offence before the end of the season, he will incur a 14-day suspension which might rule him out of such major events as the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe or Breeders' Cup day.

No such worries for the gentleman amateur riders of Europe, who contested the most prestigious race of their season at Epsom yesterday. The wide range of ability among the runners in the Moet & Chandon Silver Magnum is matched only by that of their jockeys, but the punters quickly worked out that in Luis Urbano and Arabian Story, they had the best on offer at either end of the reins. The 4-1 chance sauntered away up the Epsom straight to give Urbano his third victory in the last four runnings of the "amateurs' Derby".

Arabian Story, who is trained by Lord Huntingdon, carried The Queen's colours to their first success in the event. "Lord Carnarvon, the racing manager, is on holiday," the trainer said, "so I will have to phone The Queen. It makes a change because he usually phones after a win and I phone with the bad news."

The most notable performances at both Ripon and Newcastle yesterday were provided by juveniles. At Ripon, John Dunlop won the Champion Two-Year- Old Trophy for the second year running - Kahir Almaydan, a very useful colt, was the winner 12 months ago - when Indian Rocket came home in considerable style. All six of his rivals were previous winners, but Willie Carson was easing down at the line to keep the winning distance to three lengths.

"Willie said he was running away with him today and he's certainly got a turn of foot," Brian Grove, Dunlop's travelling head lad, said. "He has got a lot of potential."

Just as impressive was the finishing kick by The Fly which carried him from last to first in the final furlong of the Blaydon Nursery at Newcastle, the most valuable two-year-old handicap in Europe.

The Fly is trained by Barry Hills, and closely related to the trainer's popular stayer, Further Flight, but it was his colour, rather than his breeding, which attracted his owner, Catherine Corbett. "By chance Barry Hills heard that I loved greys and he said I must have this one," Mrs Corbett said. "Now I'm glad that I did." Other useful greys to have raced in her colours include Nicer, Desirable and the chaser Morceli.

Grey is what Martin Pipe is rapidly turning as he attempts to realise his cherished ambition of training all six winners at a meeting. His latest attempt, at Newton Abbot yesterday, did not even survive the first race, and only one of Pipe's eight entries came home in front.