The seven riders involved are Marcus Foley (who rode Triumph Of Dubai), Timmy Murphy (Blue Savanna), Mark Nicolls (Craigmor), James Davies (Seraph), Paddy Brennan (Sigwells Club Boy), Antony Evans (Diamond Orchid) and Gabriel Hannon (Golden Fields).

The suspensions were due to start on December 29, but will now be put on hold until after the appeal.

“We are disappointed our end that we have been unable to find a date before then that we can get the Panel together. It’s difficult over Christmas but is still frustrating,” said Jockey Club spokesman John Maxse today.

“They are appealing against both counts and consequently the suspensions have to go on hold until then.

“The guideline for suspensions for taking the wrong course is for between 10 and 14 days and the riders were all given 12, so at best they are arguing over a day or two.”

Jockeys’ Association chief executive John Blake agreed that there was no doubt that the riders had taken the wrong course.

“We are holding are hands up to the fact that a rule was broken in terms of taking the wrong course. It is the penalty – 10 days not 12 has been the norm in recent cases,” he said.

“We are looking at the penalty of taking the wrong course and the breach in terms of the failure to pull up.

“A proper appeal at Portman Square would not be subject to the same time constraints as the Ludlow stewards would be under given the small time they had to disentangle exactly what happened.

“No-one is saying that a rule wasn’t broken or that mistakes weren’t made. Everyone admits to that. It’s just a case of going through the actual process to make sure that the correct penalty is there for taking the wrong course.

“Working through the reasons why the jockeys didn’t pull up was because they all were aware that someone had gone wrong. But at the heat of the battle, towards the end of a race, you don’t want to be the one that pulls up if you happen to be the one who was going the right way at the time. That’s the crux of the second charge.”

Confusion began when conditional jockey Claire Stretton was sent flying from her mount Mizinky at the first flight in the Tanners Claret Juvenile Novices’ Selling Hurdle.

The obstacle had to be omitted on the final circuit while she was attended by paramedics.

As the runners turned into the home straight, where the field split into three groups, Stretton was still on the ground at the side of the dolled-off hurdle.

A trio of the runners chose to go around the outside of the obstacle and as a result avoided the stricken rider.

However, some of the field went on to the chase course, and others went to the inside of the hurdle and were forced to swerve to avoid Stretton and the paramedics.

The 20-1 winner, Dream Falcon, kept the race after jockey Rodi Greene was deemed to have taken the correct outside course, along with La Rose (Robert Thornton) and Margarets Wish (Carl Llewellyn), who finished well beaten but were promoted to second and third respectively.