Qld apprentice licence system review

Queensland racing officials will review their systems after an apprentice who was ineligible to ride at metropolitan meetings rode a winner at Ipswich.

Adam Spinks was on A Little Crafty when he beat the odds-on favourite Rock ‘N’ Sol in a maiden on Wednesday.

After spending time out of the saddle since November, Spinks resumed riding at Kilcoy on April 13 and then rode at Flinton a week later.

The Ipswich ride was his first at a Brisbane metropolitan class meeting since he came back.

Spinks had 10 metropolitan rides earlier in his career when he held a restricted licence which meant he could ride at metropolitan mid-week meetings.

However when re applied for his licence he was given a provincial A licence instead of the restricted metropolitan licence.

The error was not discovered until well after the race and correct weight had been declared.

It was the latest embarrassment in a series of mistakes by stewards and officials which AAP understands many in the industry are blaming on resources being redirected to the long-running Ben Currie case.

Some of the state’s most senior stewards are either ill or on other duties.

Meanwhile, Currie’s lawyers will make final submissions on Monday regarding two charges involving allegations of jigger use tomorrow.

Currie got an extension to make the submissions after applying for a judicial review in the Supreme Court on Friday.

Queensland Racing Integrity Commission boss Ross Barnett said QRIC had opposed the judicial review application which was denied but it had agreed to an extension of time to make submissions.