Australian Club jockey Stephen Baster yesterday lost his appeal against a riding suspension for not taking all reasonable and permissible measures on 5-1 favourite Outstanding Lad at Sha Tin on May 27. Baster, 23, is now suspended worldwide until July 8.
The 90-minute appeal was chaired by Jockey Club chairman Alan Li Fook-sum and also heard by Jockey Club stewards Henry Tang Ying-yen and Brian Stevenson. Baster, who has ridden six winners during his Club jockey stint, had been determined to clear his name.
Afterwards he said: 'What's done is done, there is nothing more I can do about it now but I am a bit disappointed.
'Outstanding Lad has appeared in 19 of the stipes reports in his 22 races but unfortunately the appeals panel didn't take into account his record of being a very difficult ride. It's obvious he is a very hard ride,' said Baster.
Chief stipendiary steward John Schreck said: 'Jockey Stephen Baster was well prepared and submitted his point of view well. However, the appeals board clearly was not of a view to accept his explanation of his ride on Outstanding Lad, which he acknowledged was a poor one.' Baster was charged under Rule 131 (ii) which states that riders must take all reasonable and permissible measures on their mounts to ensure they win or obtain the best possible placing. But both Baster and Schreck were at pains to point out that a breach of this regulation does not imply any deliberate wrongdoing.
Schreck said: 'Unfortunately, some are of the view that a breach of this rule occurs if a jockey rides an ill-judged race. We do not take that view because clearly at every meeting jockeys go right when they should have gone left. What a breach of this rule does mean is that a jockey fails to give his horse every opportunity to win or obtain the best possible placing and then fails to provide a reasonable explanation for it. It is not only a bad ride but a bad ride which is not reasonably explained.
