Henderson: BHA decision 'harsh'

Leading National Hunt trainer Nicky Henderson has branded as "harsh" the British Horseracing Authority's decision to stop him from making entries for three months.Henderson learned of his fate on Friday morning, having last week been found guilty of using a prohibited substance on The Queen's Moonlit Path at Huntingdon in February. He was also hit with a record-breaking £40,000 fine.The 58-year-old handler faced a possible disqualification from the training ranks, but will instead be unable to run any of his horses from July 11 to October 10. The punishment handed out means Henderson can continue to employ his workforce, and that owners can keep their horses with them if they wish.In a statement issued to Press Association Sport, Henderson said: "I am obviously hugely relieved that this saga has been concluded and, even though this seems a harsh sentence, we accept the findings and can now look forward again to the future and an exciting season ahead."As we are unable to have any runners for three months in our name, it is going to be all the more difficult to emulate last season's amazing results, but this will make us try even harder to do so."Although the medication should not have been administered, I can only re-iterate, as the panel has accepted, that it was only given in the interest of the welfare of Moonlit Path herself."The support that I and all the family and the team have received over the last very testing weeks has been quite overwhelming and, under the circumstances, so much appreciated."My owners, fellow trainers, both National Hunt and Flat, so many friends, everyday racegoers have given us so much encouragement and backing. I can only thank you all enormously and this includes my legal team. I simply cannot tell you how much it has meant to me and everybody at Seven Barrows."Racing pundit John McCririck disagreed with the decision to prevent Henderson from making entries for three months and said: "This is a very serious offence, but what the BHA have done to Nicky Henderson is absolutely outrageous."This is a man of proven integrity but he has been condemned in a secret court in a tribunal, of which we have not seen the evidence."