THE man who deftly steered Black Caviar through the dark dozens of times has pleaded guilty to a charge of incompetent riding at Sale on Tuesday.
Paddy Bell, Black Caviar's regular track rider, mistook the 800m turn for the home turn aboard the Peter Moody-trained Mauboy in a 1400m maiden.
According to the stewards' report Bell rode Mauboy "vigorously between the 800 metres and 700 metres improving his position, before realising his error and steadying Mauboy".
Stewards suspended Bell for a month on the rare charge of incompetence.
Stewards said Bell's guilty plea and "forthright and honest evidence" contributed to the lenient penalty.
Racing Victoria's chief steward Terry Bailey said he sympathised with Bell, whose good riding record since gaining his race licence earlier this year suggested the Sale incident was a "one off."
Bailey said Bell "took off before acceptances".
Such brain fades are rare, but they do occur.
Visiting Irish jumps jockey Charlie Swan made an infamous error aboard hot favourite King Taros in a steeplechase at Sandown in 1992, turning left instead of right. Swan was suspended for five meetings for careless riding.
Another Irishman, Patrick Kelly, also took a wrong turn in a Warrnambool steeplechase a few years ago.
In 1978 Roy Higgins infamously dropped his hands aboard hot favourite Hyperno in the Moonee Valley Cup and was beaten. Higgins was suspended for 10 city meetings.
In 2002 apprentice Rhys McLeod mistook the laps in a 3000m race at Moonee Valley and was suspended for two months.
At about the same time, Wayne Hokai mistook the laps in the Hanging Rock Cup and was suspended.
0 comments:
Post a Comment