Stewards took no action yesterday over Wayne Smith's handling of Good Boy at Happy Valley on Tuesday night - but the jockey nevertheless ended the afternoon with a six-day suspension.
Smith appeared at two separate inquiries yesterday which had been adjourned from Tuesday night and emerged after more than three hours of grilling with a six-day suspension, which will commence after tomorrow's Sha Tin meeting.
Smith pleaded guilty to careless riding for crossing over at the 800-metre mark on eventual winner Grand Fighter. The following horse, Dragon Horse (Simon Yim Hin-keung), clipped Grand Fighter's heels and dislodged Yim, who was briefly struck unconscious in the fall but soon regained his senses. The six-day ban, double the usual careless riding penalty for a first offender, will see Smith return on December 1.
The other inquiry involved tactics employed Smith on Good Boy in the seventh event, but any query over the running of the horse turned out to be a miscommunication between at least one section of the ownership syndicate and trainer Peter Ho Leung.
Along with the rider and trainer, stewards took evidence from Fong Yau, manager for the Nostalgia Syndicate which owns Good Boy, and Hugo Hui Kwan-wah, a member of the syndicate.
Smith said he had been instructed by Ho to ride the horse forward and close to the rail, but, in a meeting with Hui on Monday, he had been told to ride the horse along for at least 150m after the start and use the whip if required to ensure the horse travelled forward.
