Pateman cops suspension, ruling him out of Albany Cup
Leading Great Southern jockey Mitchell Pateman will miss this Sunday’s blockbuster Easter meeting at Albany Racing Club after copping a 14-day careless riding suspension last week, ruling him out of the two major feature races in his home town.
Pateman has been in superb form this season and comfortably leads the Great Southern Jockeys’ Premiership with 19 victories but he won’t add to that tally at the local meet which features the $100,000 Albany Cup and $75,000 Fitzpatrick Plate.
The talented hoop was handed a 14-day ban after being found guilty of careless riding aboard Cosmah Domination in race three last Thursday.
When attempting a marginal run near the 350m mark, Cosmah Domination bumped Fulzip which resulted in Force Element also being bumped outwards and blundering with rider Fiona Bell becoming unbalanced.
When assessing Pateman’s penalty, stewards took into account his record under this rule and his guilty plea.
His ban began on midnight last Thursday and expires at midnight on April 20. Pateman was due to ride smart sprinter Secret Minx for trainer Mark Nelson in the Fitzpatrick Plate and was also likely to secure a strong Albany Cup mount. Also in Thursday’s stewards’ report, Albany trainer Gerry Hughes copped a heavy fine for an incident with ARC track supervisor Kevin Brown on March 23. Stewards concluded an inquiry into the incident and Hughes pleaded guilty to a charge of misconduct after he entered the locked ARC premises and confronted Brown in an aggressive manner.
Hughes was fined $2000 with $1000 of the fine suspended for 18 months under the prevision he does not breach the same rule.
Pateman was handed a $400 fine for not wearing a safety vest at trackwork on April 7.
Stewards also conducted an inquiry during the Albany meeting last week into banned substances amphetamine and methamphetamine being found in a urine sample from trackwork rider Mark Aghan taken at Ascot on February 12, 2015.
Stewards were able to locate Aghan in Albany and issue him with notification they intended to finalise this outstanding inquiry. He received a nine-month penalty, starting from March 20 this year, when stewards located him. They noted he was not currently licensed with Racing and Wagering WA but was licensed at the time of offence and will not be considered for re-licensing until his penalty expired on December 20.
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