Prebble cleared over dispute with owner
Hong Kong's leading rider, Brett Prebble, has been cleared of any issue following an owner's complaint over his riding of beaten odds-on favourite Tai Sing Yeh at Happy Valley last week.
Tai Sing Yeh had been running on up the inside in the straight when badly checked and the rider responsible was later suspended, but owner Edwin Cheung Hon-kit later contacted the stewards to express his dissatisfaction that Prebble had been on the inside at all.
Cheung told yesterday's hearing that, before the race and without trainer Manfred Man Ka-leung present, he told Prebble he wished the horse to race away from the rail, as he believed the going there would be inferior after it rained all day and he felt Tai Sing Yeh was better suited on the outside anyway.
Man was late getting to the paddock area prior to the race and said he was unaware of any discussion about being inside or outside, and he had discussed tactics with Prebble on the morning of the race without the matter being mentioned.
Prebble confirmed his discussion of tactics with Man and that he heard Cheung mention the matter in the paddock prior to the race, but did not take it as a specific instruction as Man had not touched upon it.
The stewards found nothing unreasonable in Prebble's ride and finished by pointing Cheung in the direction of stewards' Instruction 29, which advises that any 'owner who wishes to give additional tactical instructions to his jockey should do so through the trainer', which is designed to avoid conflicting riding instructions from owner and trainer.
Meanwhile, the Jockey Club's licensing committee issued licences for next season without any surprises. With the exception of Mark du Plessis, the current batch of jockeys will start the new season, and mostly with full season licences.
Darren Beadman will again be retained by John Moore and Andy Leung Ting-wah has been granted permission for a stable rider, though his current jockey, Brett Doyle, appears on the list of club jockeys.
Austrian Andreas Suborics, who had his time cut short this term by emergency brain surgery in April, has been licensed from October 24 to May 1, while Gerald Mosse will be back again from October 7 to March 27. The only local rider missing will be Vincent Sit Shun-keung, who had flagged his intention to retire.
