Colgan cops six day suspension
After their memorable win in Thursday’s Auckland Cup with Chenille, the Pike family achieved a short-lived double.
Chenille was ridden by Leith Innes and is trained by Tony Pike and he co-owns the mare with his parents Wayne and Vicki, her breeders.
The final race on Thursday’s card saw Blue Lagoon, owned by Vicki and Wayne Pike and trained by Tony, cross the line first in the hands of Vinnie Colgan.
Second across the line was Comin’through ridden by Cup winning jockey Leith Innes.
Connections of the Donna Logan/chris Gibbs-trained runner-up lodged a protest alleging interference from Blue Lagoon over the final stages of the race with the protest was upheld.
It was an ironic twist to the revised result and it took a further twist when Colgan rode a winner for the Gibbs and Logan stable at Te Aroha on Friday before the abandonment of that meeting.
However, Thursday was a miserable day for Colgan as he was hit with a six day suspension for careless riding in the Sistema Stakes.
Colgan was found guilty of careless riding after his Pike-trained mount Ujjayyi had caused multiple interference when shifting inwards to take the lead soon after the start of the 2-year-old Group I feature.
The horses affected in the incident were Super Shan, Irish Flame, Aquamosa and eventual third placegetter Gold Fever. The six-day suspension begins at the end of racing on Saturday through to the end of racing on April 1.
The judiciary had a busy Auckland Cup day finding reasons behind several below par efforts.
Backers of Botanic in race two watched their money go down the drain when the horse put on a rodeo show.
Botanic bucked shortly after the start badly hampering Bold Bachelor, Masabio, Elusive Meteor, Jet Charged and Iffitel to various degrees.
Botanic is required to trial to the satisfaction of stipendiary stewards before racing next.
Serious Satire ran below expectations in the Group II Westbury Classic won by stablemate Thee Auld Floozie with a post-race veterinary inspection revealing the mare to have a repetitive cough.
Visiting Sydney jockey Blake Shinn was grilled by stewards following the race for his ride on runner-up Mime.
Stewards felt Shinn had the opportunity to take a gap which he declined.
No action was taken but Shinn agreed with stewards that he had made an error of judgement.
He made no errors when he won the next race, the Group I Sistema Stakes on Summer Passage.