Zac Spain appeals severity of ban

Silvestre de Sousa has landed a winner on his first ride back from his 10-month suspension, with the Brazilian rider returning with a bang at Newcastle in England on Tuesday night. Outed from Hong Kong in May last year, De Sousa enjoyed a successful comeback by steering the Andrew Balding-trained three-year-old Superb Force to a commanding…

While his only feature-race ride for the afternoon ended in a one-meeting suspension, Brenton Avdulla dominated Sunday's Sha Tin undercard with a four-timer that further entrenches him in the Hong Kong riding ranks. After three wins from 137 rides after arriving for the final two and a half months of last season, Avdulla had made a solid start to…

Champion jockey Nash Rawiller won't be seen in action at the Caulfield Cup and the Cox Plate meetings, following a suspension incurred at Randwick-Kensington on Wednesday. Rawiller was handed a seven-meeting suspension, in which he chose to begin immediately, after pleading guilty to a careless riding charge. The suspension stems from an incident…

James McDonald is set to appeal against a six-meeting suspension for careless riding that could prevent him from competing at the Golden Slipper meeting. The appeal hearing is scheduled for Monday, and McDonald hopes to reduce his penalty period so he can ride on Slipper Day at Rosehill on March 18, which features five Group 1 races. McDonald's…

Darwin jockey Adam Nicholls and trainer Tayarn Halter dominated at Kununurra on Saturday. Nicholls, riding at the grassed track in far north-east WA for the first time, ended the day with five winners on the seven-event program. Halter, who has had success at Kununurra in the past, celebrated with four winners. After leaving Darwin late last year…

The Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga was first run in 1928 and has been won by some of the sport's biggest stars. Cody's Wish tries to add his name to the list on Saturday as the 1-2 morning-line favorite to win the prestigious race for older horses. Five stakes races, including three Grade 1s, dot the card. The Test Stakes for 3-year-old fillies…

Ralph Beckett is hoping his prosperous link with Frankie Dettori can yield further success when the jockey returns to the saddle after suspension to ride Lezoo in the Group 3 bet365 Hackwood Stakes (3.00) at Newbury on Saturday. The last two weekends have gone by without Dettori after he picked up suspensions for whip use and careless riding at…

Charlie Appleby reports Breeders' Cup winner Yibir to be in good condition and expects him to show further progress following his run at Royal Ascot as he features in the Coral Marathon. The son of Dubawi finished sixth of 12 in the 2m4f Gold Cup, ten lengths behind Courage Mon Ami, on his first attempt at the trip. Prior to that outing the…

Frankie Dettori will miss the chance to land the only British Group 1 he has yet to win after he was ruled out of riding in next month's July Cup for breaking the whip rules at Royal Ascot. Dettori will sit out the whole of the July meeting at Newmarket after he was found to have used his whip once above the permitted level of six strikes from two…

FRANKIE DETTORI will miss one of the biggest races of his final season after picking up a nine-day ban at Royal Ascot. The legendary jockey was docked for careless riding aboard King Charles' horse Saga in the Wolferton Stakes on day one. It means Dettori, in his final season in the saddle, will miss the ride on 9-4 Coral-Eclipse favourite Emily…

Resurgent rider Danny Beasley is making an application to Racing NSW for a jockey-trainer licence in the new season. Beasley, who will be celebrating his 48th birthday with seven rides at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday, has revealed his ambition to eventually become a trainer. "I've always said I will keep riding until the phone stops ringing,''…

John Size rated Tuchel's winning performance in the Class Two Para Sports Coach Handicap (1600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday as the best run of his career that has included a couple of Classic Series silver medals. Carrying 134 pounds and chasing much lighter-weighted Flaming Rabbit, who bounded away from the rest of the field at the halfway mark, Tuchel…

Top jockey Ben Melham has launched a withering spray at Racing Victoria, claiming their focus on'turnover and revenue' is at the'expense of people's lives' after Saturday's meeting featured the third sickening fall in a fortnight. The 18-time Group 1 winner, whose partner - the glamorous superstar rider Jamie Kah - had to be rushed to hospital in a…

Champion jockey Opie Bosson has no plans to appeal the lengthy suspension he incurred on the closing day of the Hawke's Bay spring carnival. While it will cost him Group One opportunities at the upcoming New Zealand Cup meeting at Riccarton, Bosson will take his medicine and concentrate on remaining busy to keep his weight under control during his…

Hall of Fame jockey Hugh Bowman has declined an offer to ride champion mare Verry Elleegant in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in France next weekend. Bowman was tempted by the opportunity to ride in Europe's most prestigious race, run at Longchamp on October 2, but had too many pressing Sydney spring carnival commitments. At Royal Randwick on…

Bigger prize money and the chance to race on one of Australia's best racetracks will see Steven Pateman head to Sandown with El Gladiador. A last start runner-up to Milford in the Group 3 Eclipse Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield, El Gladiador is entered in a benchmark 82 race at Morphettville and a benchmark 84 contest at Sandown on Saturday. Both races…

The jockey of Kentucky Derby upset winner Rich Strike is serving a four-day suspension handed down by Ohio racing stewards that his agent says won't prevent him from riding the horse in next week's Preakness. Stewards suspended Sonny Leon last week for careless riding during the third race on April 27 at Thistledown Racecourse, east of Cleveland,…

Apprentice Lachlan Neindorf enjoys a winner. Photo: Racing Photos via Getty Images If Lachlan Neindorf was having any second thoughts about returning to South Australia, they were quickly dispelled after securing a strong book of eight rides at Oakbank on Saturday. After almost two years in Victoria, the talented 20-year-old has decided to come…

James McDonald had his careless riding ban overturned. Picture: Trackside Photography Star jockey James McDonald is free to ride Grace And Harmony in Saturday's Group 1 Queensland Oaks after successfully appealing a careless riding ban on Wednesday. And in a double victory for Sydney's leading hoop, he's been snapped up for the coveted ride on boom…

If Macau-based jockey Peter Ho Wah-lun left Sha Tin on cloud nine 12 months ago after booting home his first winner in Hong Kong thanks to his brother-in-law Frankie Lor Fu-chuen, he is at the other end of the spectrum a year on. Star trainer Lor entrusted Ho with three rides on Saturday including that of raging favourite Little Wise Man in the…

Jockey Zac Spain has enjoyed a fruitful association with Lombardo and is looking forward to reuniting with the sprinter at Moonee Valley The Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr-trained sprinter provided Spain with his second Group 1 victory when successful in The Goodwood at Morphettville last year. With C F Orr Stakes winner Streets Of Avalon recently…

The hectic schedule of racing in Victoria has resulted in jockey Daniel Moor heading overseas for a'working holiday'. Moor will plie his trade in Singapore for the next two months, although he may extend that, if granted by Singapore authorities, by a few weeks after his work permit was delayed. Success aboard Jigsaw in the Listed Hareeba Stakes…

Stephanie Bakranich, who will saddle up Playing Marika in Saturdays Group 3 Hyperion Stakes (1600m), admits the mare's recent form has taken her by surprise. Stephanie Bakranich pinpointed two races for Playing Marika this campaign, but is glad she had a change of heart as it's panned out better than she could have expected. The seven-year-old has…

The Adelaide stable of Will Clarken and Niki O'Shea is still weighing up who will be their representative in the Australia Stakes at Moonee Valley. Beau Rossa and Ironclad have been entered for the 1200m Group 2 contest on Saturday, but only one of the pair will be making the trip. Whichever horse does not travel to Melbourne, it will stay in…