Vinery costly for jockeys
Noel Callow’s joy at his Group I success at Rosehill on Montoya’s Secret has been tempered by a hefty ban for reckless and careless riding and a $15,000 fine.
Although he pleaded guilty to careless riding in the final 50m of Saturday’s Vinery Stud Stakes, Callow was vehement in his denial of reckless riding for the same incident.
Foxplay, ridden by Hugh Bowman, was checked when Callow shifted out and stewards said he should have looked to his outside.
‘‘Wouldn’t it be reasonable for a jockey to look to the outside when shifting out several horses?’’ chief steward Marc van Gestel asked Callow.
The jockey replied he did not know Bowman was there and the filly had shifted quickly.
‘‘I 100 per cent agree it was careless,’’ Callow said.
‘‘But I didn’t know Hugh was there. I don’t believe it was reckless. My filly veered out quickly.’’
Van Gestel and his panel disagreed and outed Callow from March 29 to April 29.
His bans are to be served concurrently. His two $15,000 fines are also concurrent.
‘‘We are not going to tolerate riders riding recklessly over this carnival,’’ van Gestel said. Callow said he would appeal. Montoya Star, a $130,000 Karaka yearling offered by Phoenix Park, headed home a New Zealand-bred trifecta in the roughhouse contest with Nurse Kitchen a $100,000 yearling from Chequers Stud second, and Harlow Gold a $200,000 Highden Park Karaka yearling third.
Fellow Melbourne jockey Regan Bayliss, who finished third in the Vinery on Harlow Gold, will be out for most of April after copping a ban for shifting in at the 200m, causing Lubiton to check Smart As You Think, with that filly’s rider, Corey Brown, almost falling.
Bayliss will ride at Randwick on Saturday April 1 and can return on April 30. He was fined $2000. Brenton Avdulla’s ride on Moqueen in the Vinery has cost him the chance to repeat his VRC Oaks win on Lasqueti Spirit in the Australian Oaks on April 8.
Avdulla was outed for five meetings, starting after next Saturday.
The New Zealand-trained hope in the race was La Bella Diosa who disappointed for the second time in succession after winning firstup in Sydney.
‘‘Travelled nice in the run but once I let her go she floundered in it,’’ said expat jockey Jason Collett.
The deep Rosehill track was her undoing in the eyes of Mandy Brown who co-trains the filly with husband, Matt at Rangiora.
‘‘The terrible track conditions are tripping her up,’’ Brown said on Sunday. ‘‘But we’re going to sit it out in Sydney.’’
The main goal on La Bella Diosa’s Sydney campaign has been the ATC Australian Oaks on April 8 at Randwick.
‘‘It would be a shame to pack a sad and go home only to find in two weeks the weather has come right and there’s a good track on Oaks day.
‘‘We can’t look back, we can only look forward and we couldn’t be happier with her fitness and condition – she is thriving.’’