Visiting Irish jockey Leigh Roche's stint in Australia has been marred by a five-week ban for his handling of a horse in a staying race at Randwick.

Visiting Irish jockey Leigh Roche has been hit with a five-week ban for his handling of a horse in a race at Randwick.

Roche arrived in Australia in November for a three-month stint, basing himself with trainer Chris Waller at Rosehill.

At an inquiry on Thursday, Racing NSW stewards outed the 24-year-old for failing to take all reasonable and permissible measures to ensure the Bjorn Baker-trained Zatopaz gained the best position in a 2400m-race on January 14.

Stewards said Roche had made too much use of Zatopaz several times during the race and the horse was forced to cover extra ground.

A tiring Zatopaz eventually finished seventh of the nine runners.

Roche was outed from Sunday until March 12.