Australian jockey Christian Reith hasn't even had his first ride here and his time has been extended, with the Jockey Club's licensing committee agreeing yesterday to issue him with a ticket until the season's end.
The Sydney-based jockey had originally been invited for this Sunday's meeting due to fears jockey numbers were being squeezed by injuries and suspensions.
That arrangement was then modified to include next Thursday at Happy Valley and the Sunday at Sha Tin, but the club bit the bullet and went all the way yesterday.
" Tye Angland leaving early, Matthew Chadwick missing for a number of meetings after his fall and a lot of uncertainty still over when Howard Cheng [Yue-tin] and Keith Yeung [Ming-lun] will be able to resume from injury has been compounded by other factors," said licensing secretary Steve Railton.
The other factors include the six-meeting absence of Neil Callan through suspension and lesser bans for Andreas Suborics, Douglas Whyte, Zac Purton and Vincent Ho Chak-yiu, while Joao Moreira will miss Sunday week's meeting to ride Glorious Days in Japan.
"Christian Reith will now be here from this Sunday until the season's end and Mark Du Plessis will come in from June 15 until the last day," Railton said.
While Reith, who sits near the top of the Sydney premiership, will be a new face, Du Plessis is well known to owners, trainers and punters here, having won 77 races during five different stints of varying lengths.
Du Plessis is currently sitting second on the New Zealand national riders' championship, 13 wins behind Matthew Cameron.
