While on stewarding, a brief mention of Christophe Soumillon on the weekend is appropriate. Soumillon was found guilty of careless riding for the fourth time in his three-month stint - which has made his riding 26 winners all the more creditable - and banned for two days and fined $80,000. Stewards long ago gave away their original notion that fines would be multiplied by the number of offences - the numbers probably started to look too big - but doubtless other riders were looking askance at the figure.
However, the problem was not the penalty or charge but a lack of sense in issuing riding bans which could have seen Soumillon ruled out of an important ride in France and cause friction in his main job for the Aga Khan.
Soumillon advised that he was booked for Group racing on March 8 and stewards applied his ban from March 9, but yesterday rearranged the ban again as the Aga Khan requires Soumillon this weekend as well. The stewards have been very accommodating in the circumstances but it smacks of amateur hour.
A few years ago, Californian rider Corey Nakatani was found guilty of careless riding in the Hong Kong Mile and given a regulation Hong Kong ban - regulation for Hong Kong perhaps but not California, where they race every day and Nakatani was going to miss 20 meetings. Amateur hour.
Surely, for any rider's last meeting before returning to a foreign jurisdiction where the layout of the racing calendar might look different, stewards could apply the same rule they have done for the season's final day in recent years - no days, only fines - so any penalty would not interfere with an engagement elsewhere.
The club openly agrees that Soumillon's presence has been a boost and he, and others of high standing, should be encouraged to compete here not given practical reasons to bypass Hong Kong.
