Queen's advisors 'disappointed'

Connections of The Queen's National Hunt team have expressed disappointment after Nicky Henderson was stopped from making entries for three months over the Moonlit Path case.The Lambourn trainer, who was also hit with a record-breaking £40,000 fine, was found guilty last week of using a prohibited substance on The Queen's mare at Huntingdon in February.Moonlit Path is one of a number of horses, including this year's Cheltenham Gold Cup seventh Barbers Shop, Henderson trains for The Queen. No decision has been made as to whether these horses will remain at Seven Barrows.In a statement issued through At The Races, the Queen's jumps racing advisor, Sir Michael Oswald, said: "We are disappointed. We will obviously discuss it but have not yet had the chance to do so. We need to read the findings and take them all in before any decisions are made."Mick Fitzgerald, who rode as stable jockey to Henderson for many years, expects the trainer to "bounce back"."I'm sure he'll be amazed and as disappointed as everyone is about the decision," said Fitzgerald."I'm just really pleased that he doesn't have to lose any staff and lay anybody off over this, and that is the thing Nicky will be most pleased about. Of course Nicky can bounce back from this because he is a strong person."But, at the same time, he'll be disappointed they've found as they have because he didn't give it to the horse to affect its performance. If that was the case, he wouldn't be running it in a race where he already had the favourite (the winner, Ravello Bay)."He's an honourable man and he'll now get on with the job of training winners. Nicky has trained for some of these owners for a considerable amount of time and I'm sure something like this will not stop people having horses in training with Nicky Henderson."The number-one thing here is that Nicky will be relieved that none of his staff will lose their jobs, and that is the big thing. Nicky's a very emotional man and that would have hurt him."