Schofield bears brunt of new system
South African jockey Glyn Schofield now knows how a crash-test dummy must feel after gathering up another dubious first under the new scheme of riding penalties yesterday.
Schofield had been the first rider found guilty of careless riding this season and landed a two-day ban and $35,000 for that offence, but now has the full set after pleading guilty to not riding his mount in the second yesterday, fourth placegetter Joy Trumps, right to the line.
Schofield was also the first to be penalised under the new scheme for that offence and left Sha Tin with a two-day ban once more and a whopping $120,000 fine.
The offence might previously have brought a five-day suspension, but with the new policy to substitute fines for all but two days of suspension, Schofield was no doubt thrilled to find he had been upgraded from $35,000 to $40,000 per day after a successful start to the term.
Joy Trumps had finished a half length behind third-placed Doucai.
Also banned yesterday was Anton Marcus, who is having a slow start to his season, and he caught two days and a $15,000 fine for his riding of Multi Millions near the 500 metres when Taiji Spirit suffered interference.
Schofield's ban starts after racing next Sunday but stewards acceded to a request by Marcus to commence the ban immediately since there is no midweek meeting.
After a stop-start term last year, jockey Anthony Delpech seems to have landed on the right foot this term and made his fifth win a Big Winner in the all-weather sprint for Peter Ng Bik-kuen.
Well-backed Big Winner managed to find the front yesterday on the rail and that was all the difference for the lightly-raced gelding.
'He didn't get much peace the other day in the 1,400m and it killed him sharing the front,' Delpech said. 'But when he was able to lead on his own today he was different. He can run, he's shown us that in the mornings, but he is still learning about it. He has been a bit headstrong, a bit difficult but he has a future.'
Trainer David Hayes has a couple of big weeks coming up in Australia as a trainer with Elegant Fashion in the Cox Plate in a fortnight and in the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups as an owner.
'I'm a part-owner of two of the favourites in the Caulfield Cup - Confectioner and Hugs Dancer - and Hugs Dancer also looks to have a great hope in the Melbourne Cup,' Hayes said, though he had high hopes for a Group One win as an owner in the Caulfield Guineas yesterday only to see Barely A Moment run second.
He had to make do with a quick back-up win from Fuji Sunrise (Gerald Mosse) at Sha Tin instead.
An easy victor on the National Day Cup card, Fuji Sunrise had to work harder yesterday after Master Marauder looked to have stolen the race at the 200m, but the lightly-raced four-year-old scraped in.
'That was gutsy,' said Hayes. 'He was put under real pressure today and came through.'
