Apprentice Ng still unfit to ride
Leading apprentice rider Alvin Ng Ka-chun will be missing again when racing resumes at Sha Tin on Tuesday.
The 10-pound claimer had to stand down on Wednesday night from Happy Valley after being reported with the flu, but youngster appears to have been harder hit by the virus than expected. After Ng had been declared for four rides yesterday morning for Tuesday's meeting, stewards later issued a notice saying the young jockey had produced a medical certificate to say that he was still unfit to ride at the meeting. His replacements are Gerald Mosse (Winner Smart, race one), Zac Purton (Sunrise, race eight), Ben So Tik-hung (Romantic City, race nine) and Terry Wong Chi-wai (Liberator, race 10).
Also stood down on Wednesday with a wrist injury was Matthew Chadwick, who will nevertheless be on deck on Tuesday and has also had a small win on Thursday regarding his latest careless-riding penalty.
Chadwick, who already has a careless-riding penalty from December 11 to take effect on January 2, appealed against a subsequent careless-riding charge on December 14, which earned him another two days off and a HK$40,000 fine.
While his appeal was unsuccessful and the two-day ban stands, the appeal panel did remove the additional HK$40,000 fine from the penalty.
So Chadwick will ride on Tuesday and New Year's Day and will then be sidelined until January 16.
