All The Aces

Makes pretty grim reading showing a rider with a shocking riding record. One thing this clearly shows is the urgent need for Messers Marsh, Simon and Coleman to vist an optician.

I wasn't being critical. More pointing out how unusual it was yesterday for them. I am sure they will bounce back.

Te Akau lined up five hot favourites today and they all got well and truly trounced. Prismatic and Sans Doute at Hawera along with Dynastic, Stella Splendida and Imperatriz at Matamata. You don't see that very often. And Opie would have opened up a very hot favourite to win the jockeys competition at Matamata with twelve rides and ended up with a win a second and two thirds. Go figure.

Jockey Sam Weatherley cops 9-week suspension for reckless riding after death of Taiki Yanagida By Belinda Feek 27 Sep, 2022 06:00 PM6 mins to read SaveShare Top jockey Sam Weatherley, pictured in January 1, this year, has been suspended from riding for nine weeks after being found guilty of reckless riding. Photo / Trish Dunell The actions of a top young jockey, which led to a promising Japanese rider's death at Cambridge, have been ruled "reckless". But Sam Weatherley, 23, says it was a "freak accident" that he will continually struggle with for the rest of his life. Taiki Yanagida died after injuries suffered in a fall at Cambridge Raceway last month after his horse, Te Atatu Pash, was bumped when Weatherley made an "abrupt" and "aggressive" turn with his horse, Jack Hammer. Today, after a hearing by the Racing Integrity Board, Weatherley has been handed a nine-week racing suspension as result of his actions on the track. ADVERTISEMENT Advertise with NZME. CCTV footage shown to the board's panel at the Te Rapa Racecourse in Hamilton, shows how a fatal series of events played out in a matter of seconds during the last race of the day on August 3. It shows a group of horses rounding the final bend at the 300 mark. Up until then, Weatherley had trailed the leading horse, Searchlight, on the inside barrier. Start your day in the know Get the latest headlines straight to your inbox. Please email me competitions, offers and other updates. You can stop these at any time. SIGN UP By signing up for this newsletter, you agree to NZME’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Weatherley would later tell investigators at his initial hearing that he was looking for a "run" and then he's "just gone". "I thought there was a run appearing out three wide and I've looked to come out for a run and obviously Darren Danis' mount has been going better than mine ... no disrespect to Darren but I thought that run would appear, just the nature of the way it happens." However, as Weatherley attempts to make his "run", his horse made contact with the girth area of Danis' ride, Goodo Jo, which he says "overreacted quite badly". "Unfortunately, it's just a freak accident and something that I've gotta live with for the rest of my life. It's very, very unfortunate," he said during his interview last month, which was adjourned to continue today. Horse racing jockey Taiki Yanagida died after falling from his horse during a race at Cambridge in August. Photo / Trish Dunell Footage of the race was shown multiple times to the adjudicative panel throughout the hearing. It showed Jack Hammer bumping into the girth of Goodo Jo whose hindlegs are then swung out to the right. ADVERTISEMENT Advertise with NZME. That caused Te Atatu Pash to appear to tap the ankle of Goodo Jo and fall forward, throwing Yanagida to the ground, where he was stomped on by a horse following close behind. Neither horse nor its rider could have avoided the collision. Yanagida was rushed to Waikato Hospital and his Japan-based family flew over to be by his side, but he died from injuries to his brain and spine. The accident stunned and divided the racing industry, Weatherley's co-counsel Philip Cornege told the panel today. "Half of the industry have been quite supportive .. the other half have frankly branded him a murderer and it's quite wrong." He said those people felt that Weatherley returning to the saddle was him "thumbing his nose" at Yanagida's death. "But he literally had to get back on the horse. Sitting at home trying to cope with what had happened was not good for his mental health." Weatherley's remorse was genuine, he said, and he'd not only met with Yanagida's mother but also contributed to the funeral and a headstone for his grave in Japan. Dennis Dow, counsel for the board, earlier submitted Weatherley's actions were reckless and called two of its stipendiary stewards, Brady Jones and Warwick Robinson, along with its chief steward John Oatham as witnesses. Robinson told the adjudicators Warwick Gendall and Noel McCutcheon that Weatherley "used his horse as a battering ram", after pulling it to get into a space, or gap, neither of which he said existed. "You say gap, I'm saying there isn't a gap," he bluntly told Weatherley's co-counsel Fletcher Pilditch. Robinson, a former jockey and stipendiary steward of 25 years, told the panel from his viewing of the race footage, Weatherley suddenly "shoots out at least two and a half horses" to his right as he finishes negotiating the final bend. He explained to have a "gap" wide enough to head into, it needed to "at least" fit the horse's shoulders. "Even if you see that it's still a very narrow gap to negotiate a horse through ... I think Mr Weatherley is a very experienced rider and knows the only way he could get through there is to make a gap." However, fellow retired jockey Michael Coleman, said he could see the gap Weatherley was aiming for. "There's no doubt in my mind that there's a reason why Mr Weatherley has jumped out for that run, because there's a gap there." He said everything happens in "microseconds" riding at that pace and although he could have corrected, Weatherley's "instincts have taken over" and he's continued to aim for the gap that he saw before it's closed on him. "There has been a run fixed for Mr Weatherley to take and as a competitive rider you would also try to go for that run." He, together with Weatherley's counsel, submitted his actions were careless, not reckless. However, after 45 minutes of deliberations, the panel found Weatherley guilty. Dow pushed for a three-month ban, which would include uplifts for his "poor" riding history involving 11 charges of careless riding and seven convictions in the past 12 months, and more going back to when he started in 2016. Pilditch said Weatherley had already been subjected to trial by social media. "We live in a very vitriolic age. We operate in a world of social media where people are tried and judged via social media and that's certainly been the case for Mr Weatherley and his family who have faced very divisive views ... about his involvement. "He really has suffered and will continue to suffer quite a high level of antagonism and animosity from people in the industry who really aren't in a position to be making comment. "Good ole New Zealand has already done a fair amount of crushing through social media," Pilditch said. He urged the board to hand down a suspension which left him with a "sense of hope" for his future career. While Weatherley had always accepted culpability for his actions, he felt they were careless rather than reckless. However, it was pointed out that Weatherley had been subjected, and pleaded guilty to, a charge of careless riding earlier in the same meeting. Panel chairman Warwick Gendall said there was "no question" that there was never any intent by Weatherley to purposefully cause the fall. "No jockey intends that, ever," he said. In delivering not only their verdict on the charge but also the penalty, Gendall and McCutcheon found Weatherley's horse made "very firm" contact with Goodo Jo, "when in no time correcting his line exhibiting reckless behaviour". "And the actions establish that he acted in a deliberate manner," Gendall said. Gendall acknowledged it had taken a toll on Weatherley's mental health but reminded him he had "a great future" and wished him well. Weatherley declined to comment when approached outside by Open Justice. Yanagida was the first jockey to die in a race fall in New Zealand since Rebecca Black at Gore in December, 2016.

Stewards opened and adjourned an enquiry into an incident passing the 600 metres which resulted in DEEBEE BELLFER falling and LOOSE MONEY being brought down as a consequence. Initial evidence was taken from riders D Prastiyou and C Barnes. The matter was adjourned due to the unavailability of rider T Mitchell.

Karma don't you think. 😊

So have you scratched after all this?

Walker only paid up with four to make the field (one further on the ballot) and it appears most of the noms have got a start. I would have assumed NZTR would have spoken with Mark re this race. Your early rant was therefore unwarranted. I would gather an apology will be forthcoming. BTW. There are plenty of 1200m maiden races about.

The maiden 1200m has a starting limit of 12 and I note that Mark Walker has 8 horses listed in the top twelve ranked entries (9 counting back to 14). By the way I can't see any horse outside of the top 12 that has won two trials.

http://i1.cmail20.com/ei/r/91/07B/7DD/155729/csfinal/NZTR-banner-9900000000079e3c.jpg Dear Valued Owner, Firstly, I apologise to all the owners who were impacted by the abandonment on Saturday at Rotorua, likewise to all other participants, Trainers, Jockeys, Starters, Commentator, clerk of the scales, judge, raceday staff and punters. We can no longer tolerate sub-par performance when it comes to our tracks given the cost to the industry. We will all agree that weather will get the better of us at times, that is something we can never change. What we can change however is our ability to recognise when the surface we are expecting our horses and jockeys to perform on is not up to standard. Following the Trentham abandonment last year policies were put in place with the aim of avoiding incidents such as Saturday’s abandonment. In recent weeks we have ensured that, when we were made aware of a potential track issue, that the track was inspected independently. This has allowed meetings to be transferred or abandoned in advance of their race days. The situation that occurred at Rotorua on Saturday is unacceptable. NZTR has received an initial report from the club and requested further information. We will keep participants advised regarding the outcome however, the Rotorua Racing Club will now be subject to our Return to Racing Policy which require certain steps to be followed before the track will be able to host racing again. So, what will NZTR be doing to avoid similar situations in the future? · From 1 August we will introduce a Regional Track model which will provide more eyes on tracks, and more support for track managers. · We will work more closely with the Racing Integrity Board (RIB) to ensure that, when situations require and resources allow, we will have people pre-inspect tracks with club personnel and, if possible, gallop a horse ridden by an experienced rider. I feel that with some in our industry there is a disconnect between what is expected in 2022 given heightened Health and Safety regulations, Animal Welfare considerations, and what may have been acceptable in the past. If we are to move forward as an industry we must accept and embrace the environment we are in and make the necessary adjustments, these are across the board and not just related to track conditions. Otherwise, we will continue to sabotage any progress we are seeking to make. Yours in racing, http://i2.cmail20.com/ei/r/91/07B/7DD/155729/csfinal/Bruce-Sharrock-9906db0a2801453c.jpg Bruce Sharrock Chief Executive New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing

I have seen video footage of the area of the track that caused today's abandonment at Rotorua. A track inspection yesterday and early this morning would have revealed it would be a problem and that racing couldn't proceed but no they wait until the jockeys arrive and see the problem themselves, raise concerns and after conferment the meeting is abandoned shortly before the first. The area was past the winning post and near where the horses cross over from the 1560m start and there was a discussion about whether to delete the two 1560m races and the 2000m race and race the remaining five races being the three 1215m races and two 1400m races but it was still considered unsafe even pulling up and the meeting abandoned entirely. Some serious questions need to be asked about this.

Randwick abandoned after R1 😁

Fine day and Rotorua abandoned late due to the state of the track with horses and people already on course WTF!! Why wasn't the decison made earlier???

10 races 5 leaders won Deploy, Mistress Minx, Smart Rocks, Golden Hue & Tightlign. Kerikeri led then trailed and got up to beat the horse that did lead. Masetto went up at the 1000m to sit second outside the leader and wore him down to win narrowly. Cakebytheocean sat second on the outer and came away to win. So 8 of the 10 races were won by the leader or the horse in second position. That left On Fifth Avenue who settled a handy fifth and Diamond Girl who settled back but came around quickly turning in as the only two winners who were not in the first two in the running. It is a continuing trend at Ruakaka.

Otaki-Maori RC 6 May 2022 - R6 (heard at Cambridge 1 June 2022) - Wiremu Pinn - RIB (racingintegrityboard.org.nz)

Out for 5 months from Tuesday I believe.

Well there were only 7 races programmed.

But stewards quickly removed the smile from Rawiller’s face when issuing a two-week suspension and $40,000 fine for the jockey’s excessive whip use. Rawiller pleaded guilty to striking Think It Over eight times prior to the final 100 metres and 20 times in total. Under NSW whip rules, a jockey is allowed to breach the five strikes prior to the final 100m rule provided they don’t hit the horse more than 18 times in total during the race. When handing down the penalty chief steward Marc Van Gestel told Rawiller there were multiple factors for the heavy penalty. “The Queen Elizabeth Stakes is one of our flagship races of the autumn”, Think It Over’s winning margin was “half-a-length” and (taking into account) Rawiller’s past whip record “particularly in feature races”. Rawiller’s suspension starts on Sunday week and he is free to resume riding from Monday, May 2. Think It Over earned $2.3 million for winning the Queen Elizabeth, Rawiller’s five per cent winning riding fee totalled $115,000. The former champion Sydney rider was fined $2000 last week for a whip breach aboard Commando Hunt which finished second in the Country Championships Final. On that occasion, Rawiller struck that galloper eight times prior to the final 100m and 19 times in total. Rawiller’s previous whip use penalty was a $20,000 fine and six meeting suspension he incurred aboard Eduardo in The Everest last year.

The rewards for winning a G1 race are certainly diffrent from winning a maiden race in many aspects including financial reward from the stake money and value of the horse and resultant progeny and this is why the rules state The Rules of both Codes draw the attention of Judicial Committees to the following matters relevant to fixing penalties: • the status of a race; • the stake payable for a race;

Rubbish 2 at Pukekohe on Sunday 2 at Otaki 14/4 2 at Matamata 20/4 1 at Hawera 27/4 plus a hurdle 2 at Rotorua 29/4

What's that got to do with it. She then took a left turn to go down to the fence and ended up in a situation where she was dictated to. She made the call to angle to the fence.

What are you talking about? Allpress drew three from the outside, one outside Billy Pinn and CHOSE to go across to the fence and end up second last whilst Billy Pinn settled outside her. At the 1200m Pinn could see Allpress had horses in front of her so improved forward to sit outside the leader whilst Allpress ends up still last on the fence. At the 600m he drives Posh Porotene to the lead and goes for home knowing if he can get a break on Posh Porotene Allpress would be flat to catch them. Allpress reamians stuck on the fence in last place and was still last turning in before finally getting some room to come between runners over the final 250m and finishes strongly to grab second on the $1.90 favourite some three lengths adrift of Pinn. Game, set and match to Billy Pinn. Six love, six love and six love with no points to Allpress.

Just catching up on the replays from Waverley on Friday. Billy Pinn certainly gave Lisa Allpress a lesson in riding in R7 that's for sure!!

With no relegation under the current rules I would be saying to my jockey re the whip in a big race. If you think you can win go for it and I will pay any fine etc you get.