THE hopes of Sheriff Hutton trainer Mick Easterby's staff of winning a £20,000 bonus at Carlisle were dashed yesterday.

The bonus for stable staff was on offer for any stable which won Wednesday's Carlisle Bell and then yesterday's Tote Credit Cumberland Plate.

Easterby's Top Dirham won the Carlisle Bell and yesterday he had Sporting Gesture running in the Cumberland Plate.

But Sporting Gesture, the 7-2 favourite, was beaten by half a length into second place by trainer Len Lungo's front-running Silvertown, ridden by Malton jockey Paul Hanagan.

Sporting Gesture's rider Paul Mulrennan was suspended for three days (July 5, 6 and 7) for using his whip too often without giving his mount time to respond.

Updated: 11:09 Friday, June 27, 2003