Hugh Bowman suspended, clear for Winx ride

Leading Sydney jockey Hugh Bowman will be able to keep his appointment with Winx in the Chipping Norton Stakes despite a suspension.

After his second breach in the space of a month of a racing rule which requires jockeys to ride their mounts right out to the finishing line, Bowman was suspended and fined at Randwick on Wednesday.

Bowman will start his suspension on Monday, but the three-meeting ban will end in time for him to ride Winx in the Chipping Norton Stakes at Randwick on February 25.

He was also fined $1000.

Stewards found that Bowman stopped riding Realise Potential over the final stages of the Gary Montgomery Handicap.

Realise Potential dead-heated for second, beaten a long neck.

“Your record is not a good one and there is a number of offences in the last twelve months to which you have pleaded not guilty to which of course is your right,” acting chief steward Ray Livingstone told the jockey.

“We look at the circumstances of the case … your actions certainly compromise your chances of running second outright.

“We say it should be an easy rule to adhere to.

“Ride them right out to the line and put it beyond doubt.”

Bowman pleaded not guilty but admitted the strength of his riding was questionable as the winning post loomed.

“Certainly my vigour desisted but I didn’t feel as though I stopped riding,” he told stewards.

Bowman was involved in a similar stewards’ inquiry after winning on Olympic Academy at Randwick last month.

He was found guilty of misjudging the finish and fined $600 for his lack of vigour.

Chief steward Marc Van Gestel said if Olympic Academy had been beaten, Bowman would be serving a lengthy suspension.

“I don’t have to tell you (you) would have missed the start if not most of the autumn carnival if the result was different,” Van Gestel told Bowman.

Winx will be chasing her 15th win in a row when she contests a Chipping Norton Stakes expected to contain many of the weight-for-age horses she easily defeated in the Apollo Stakes at Randwick on Monday.

Bowman has been in the saddle for her past 11 wins.