Best 'not happy' with suspension

Banned trainer Jim Best says he has "done nothing wrong" but will not appeal as he has no faith in the British Horseracing Authority's appeal process.

Best was found guilty by a BHA second disciplinary panel on 12 December of ordering a jockey not to win two races, although racing's ruling body reduced the suspension from the original four years to six months because of "an appearance of bias".

The 36-year-old says he would like to appeal the case to the high court, but, under racing's regulations, he needs to go through the BHA’s appeal process first before beginning legal action.

"I’ve done nothing wrong and I’m not happy with even getting a six-month suspension," Best told the Guardian.

"I don’t think I should have got anything. I would love to have appealed and if there was a chance I could go straight to the high court tomorrow, I’d be: ‘Yeah, I want to appeal.’

"Even with the cost, I’d want to do everything to get to that high court. Because I feel if I went in a high court situation, hopefully it would be fair and I feel we’d win."

The panel ruled that Best told jockey Paul John to stop Echo Brava and Missile Man at meetings in December 2015, but also stated that John was an "untruthful and unreliable" witness.

"I’ve lost an awful lot of heart in it now," Best continued.

"I still love racing but I can’t get over how all this has happened through one person making an allegation."

Best, who has spent £70,000 in defending the case, hopes his wife Suzi will take charge of his yard, which fallen in number from 32 horses to 13 since the charges were first issued.

"I don’t think it was the chairman’s intention for it to be totally finished," he said.

"It means that the door’s still open for me in six months. Should I have nothing to come back to?"

Photo (Getty Images/ Harry Trump)

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