TOP trainer Nicky Henderson says his "harsh" punishment over a failed drugs test has made him hungrier for success this season.

The Cheltenham Festival hero was yesterday hit with a £40,000 fine and prevented from running horses for three months – July 11 to October 10.

It came after the British Horseracing Authority found him guilty of using a prohibited substance on the Queen's Moonlit Path at Huntingdon in February.

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."

Moonlit Path is one of a number of horses, including star chaser Barbers Shop, Henderson trains for the Queen at his stables in Lambourn, Berkshire.

Cheltenham Racecourse's managing director Edward Gillespie said the fact Henderson's suspension ended before their next meeting on October 16-17 was good news for them.

"He's had a long and successful association with Cheltenham, not just at the Festival but all through the season, and I'm sure he'll be even more determined than usual to restate his reputation," he said.

Eight-times champion jockey Peter Scudamore feels Henderson's three-month entry restriction has come at a favourable time in the jump racing calendar.

"He has been banned for three months where there is little jump racing, so he will be able to continue his career," he said.