Philip Byrnes has been given a 21-day ban for dangerous riding by the Limerick stewards after being disqualified from first place in a dramatic handicap hurdle on Thursday evening.Byrnes rode the well backed 11/8 favourite Marian Avenue for his father Charles and led the field into the straight. However, as the field swung wide towards the stands side, Marian Avenue veered dramatically left on the run to the second last flight, badly interfering with the Danny Mullins-ridden Qaasid, who in turn forced the Sean O’Keeffe-ridden Friar Hogan off the course.Mullins did well to get Qaasid back into the race, but was a length-and-a-quarter shy of Marian Avenue at the line. A lengthy stewards’ inquiry took place and Marian Avenue was subsequently placed last.An Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) spokesman confirmed that Byrnes was suspended for dangerous riding, a rare example of the most severe description of breaking the interference rules. The rules state a jockey is guilty of dangerous riding if causing serious interference by purposely interfering with another horse or rider or riding in a way that is far below that of a competent and careful rider.Byrnes told the Limerick stewards his mount went to run out at the second last flight. At the stewards’ inquiry, Mullins stated he maintained his line wide off the bend and was deliberately pushed off his line by Marian Avenue and had to take violent action to get back on track to jump the second last hurdle. He further stated he felt this incident had cost him the winning of the race. Byrnes stated his mount cocked his jaw coming down to the second last hurdle, tried to run out and that he had two hands on the reins trying to keep his mount straight. O’Keeffe stated he maintained his outside line throughout the race when he received interference from the inside and was carried out.The incident comes a year to the day after Byrnes rode another of his father’s horses, Redwood Queen, in a hugely controversial race at Wexford.It was only in February that the case eventually resulted in Byrnes being cleared of deliberately jumping off Redwood Queen. An IHRB referrals panel concluded the incident which saw Byrnes unseated from the horse at the last flight with the race in apparent safety keeping was down to “poor horsemanship”. No inquiry was heard on the day by the Wexford stewards, although an IHRB investigation was announced a day later. It later emerged that British Horseracing Authority, which had a commercial agreement worth €350,000 over five years with the IHRB to supply integrity monitoring, repeatedly flagged unusual betting patterns on the race, initially to the Wexford stewards, before the race was run.