Culloty, who missed the ride on Best Mate in last year’s King George through injury, picked up the suspension at Doncaster last Friday for dropping his hands on Beechwood and losing third place in the Seasons Greeting Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race.

His ban starts on St Stephen's Day.

“I’m absolutely gutted about missing the King George but unfortunately there’s nothing I can do about it,” the jockey lamented after riding at Exeter on Thursday.

“I had a few other decent rides but I’m not going to think about it now and just get on with my life.”

John Maxse, the Jockey Club’s director of public relations, explained the afternoon’s events.

He said: “In the absence of Jim Culloty and his solicitor Andrew Coonan an application was made to the disciplinary panel via Richard Brooks, who is a solicitor with Chalk, Smith, Brooks.

“The application was made for an adjournment of the hearing into Jim Culloty’s suspension. The application was rejected and Jim Culloty subsequently withdrew his appeal.

“The disciplinary panel kept Jim Culloty’s £400 (€625) appeal deposit and the ban begins on Boxing Day.”

Brooks was present at Portman Square having earlier represented jockey Andrew Thornton at an unrelated appeal hearing.

Culloty’s appeal was due to start at 1.30pm.

However, prior to the commencement, the disciplinary committee heard an application on behalf of Culloty that the hearing be adjourned because his chosen solicitor was unavailable.

The committee turned down this request because it was satisfied that Culloty was aware of his solicitor’s unavailability on Monday evening and therefore had adequate time to instruct a replacement.

He subsequently withdrew his appeal and the committee ordered his deposit to be forfeited.

“I couldn’t have my solicitor there so there was no point going ahead. He’s busy in Ireland so it would have to have been next week,” Culloty added.

“Whatever chance I would have had I would have had no chance without a solicitor.”

Tony McCoy stepped in for the ride on Best Mate in the King George last year when Henrietta Knight’s stable star finished second to Florida Pearl.

And depending on availability the champion jockey could once again be considered as a replacement for Culloty.

Best Mate’s owner Jim Lewis said: “Henrietta, myself and Terry (Biddlecombe, Miss Knight’s husband) will be going to Uttoxeter tomorrow and we will make inquiries to see which jockeys are available then have a chat about it and see how we go from there.

“Tony McCoy is of course a possibility and is one of those obviously who will be considered.

“But what we have to do before we make any decisions and make any announcements is to make sure that whoever we would like is available and that the stable he rides for and the owners he rides for agree to let him off.”

Lewis sympathised with Culloty’s plight and added: “Jim will be gutted. It was his birthday yesterday so it’s not a very nice present. I feel very sorry for him.”

Richard Guest has come in for the ride on Miss Knight’s Chives in the Coral Welsh National.

Chives is owned Trevor Hemmings whose racing manager Michael Meagher said: “Richard Guest will ride the horse.

“He won on him at Stratford 12 months ago and when he finished third to Hussard Collonges in the SunAlliance at Cheltenham and when he was second to Kingsmark in the Edward Hanmer the other day.

“So he knows him very well and we are pleased we have been able to get him. ”

Maxse explained the timing of the appeal.

He said: “The disciplinary panel habitually make every effort to hold the inquiries at times which cause the least inconvenience to all parties.

“Indeed the timing of the Culloty hearing was designed to allow time for Mr Coonan to get to London from Ireland had he been able to.”

And giving his reaction to the outcome of the affair Maxse went on: “I have sympathy with Jim Culloty in that his suspension means he will miss out on the ride on Best Mate at Kempton on Boxing Day.

“However, I think it is fair to say that he did not help his cause today by choosing to ride at Exeter instead of attending his own appeal hearing and by failing to respond to requests made by telephone that he contact Portman Square.

“The fact that he did not attend today and that the appeal was withdrawn as soon as the application for an adjournment had been formally rejected, suggests that the primary reason for lodging the appeal was not to contest the original finding at Doncaster but rather to seek to put the appeal process temporarily on hold.”