WADDELL WAITS ON APPEAL HEARING

JOCKEY JASON WADDELL has appealed the judicial decision which saw him dumped from hot favourite Ruud Awakening in tonight’s Karaka Million, but incredibly, the hearing won’t take place before the race.

Waddell’s lawyer filed the appeal on Friday, claiming the Judicial Control Authority committee of Richard Seabrook and Adrian Dooley were wrong in concluding there was no firm engagement for Waddell to ride the horse in the $1 million feature.

Last Wednesday’s decision cleared the way for trainer Stephen Marsh and Ruud Awakening’s syndicate manager Albert Bosma to book top Australian jockey Craig Williams for the ride.

And Williams will still be on board today because when the JCA appeals committee of Murray McKechnie and Geoff Hall met on Friday night they concluded the grounds of Waddell’s appeal meant it did not have to be heard before the race.

Instead, said JCA executive officer Catherine Hutton, a decision would be made tomorrow on a hearing date.

Waddell, who has been the filly’s regular rider and is adamant he was booked for the Millions, is seeking compensation – which if the filly wins could end up costing her owners an extra $27,500 jockey fee.

Waddell’s manager, Darryl Anderson, said he was floored by the JCA’s decisionthat there was no clear evidence Waddell was booked.

‘‘I rang Stephen 30 minutes after Ruud Awakening won her last race and he said we were all go.

‘‘And Jason has texts from him saying ‘we’re in this together mate’ and ‘we’ve been waiting for this pal’.

‘‘I said to Stephen during that conversation I would ring Danica Guy [trainer of rival Gobi Ranger] and give her the bad news that Jason couldn’t ride her horse. If there was any doubt surely as Jason’s friend he would’ve said hang on, it’s not confirmed.’’

Anderson said a trainer could not book a jockey for a big race then some time later make conditions, like insisting Waddell make correct weight for two stablemates last weekend.