Australian Willie Pike arrived at the races knowing he would be suspended for a wayward ride last Wednesday night, but made the most of his time in the saddle with a double to continue a breakthrough run of good form.
Pike faced an adjourned inquiry yesterday into his winning ride on El Grande, and was given the expected two-meeting ban.
'It was just one of those ones where you know you're gone, you kind of feel bad that they're making a fuss about it,' he laughed. 'You just feel like saying 'Tell me how long I've got, do we really need to go through all this?', but I guess the stewards need to go through their formalities.'
Pike returned to Sha Tin in late April, after two previous short-term stays, but it has been the arrival of partner Jessica and two-year-old son Jet in the last fortnight that has coincided with Pike's good form, the jockey now having three winners at the last two meetings.
Pike's weaving ride on Newswire Too came after he had moved decisively to the rail and then bravely pushed in between horses.
'The horse likes to weave his way through and I'm glad he likes it because we did plenty of weaving,' Pike said.