A jockey controversially banned for 5 weeks for a front running ride on a despised outsider is free to compete again after winning an appeal against the suspension.
Victorian jockey Sarah Robbins was given the harsh penalty following her ride on $101 longshot Black Hex in June at Ballarat.
Stewards found Sarah Robbins guilty in that she failed to take all reasonable and permissible measures throughout the race to ensure that Black Hex was given full opportunity to win or obtain the best possible place in the field. The particulars of the charge being that after obtaining the lead approaching the 1100m, S Robbins continued to urge her mount along which resulted in Black Hex setting a tempo that was not sustainable or reasonable.
Much to the shock of many, including the Victorian Jockeys’ Association, Robbins was given a 5-week ban. She had previously pleaded not guilty to all charges.
It came just weeks after a number of controversial bans in racing, including Anthony and Sam Freedman who received a 28 day ban for serious charges for treating horses on race day.
But on Monday Robbins appealed the ban, with the assistance of the VJA, and won.
The VJA presented several factors in support to the Victorian Racing Tribunal, including the horses prior form.
‘’We strongly believed that the ride was not blameworthy and the Victorian Racing Tribunal board found that it wasn’t,’’ VJA boss Matt Hyland told Betsy.
‘’The fact of the matter is that the horse, while it may have been ridden against its usual pattern, it probably performed better and performed better than market expectations.
‘’And the board found in favour of that, and it’s a serious charge and it was a seriously long penalty, and all things considered, clearly the board found in favour that she wasn’t blameworthy.’’
Hyland said his organsiation felt strongly about the penalty handed to Robbins.
‘’I represented her at [the Stewards hearing] in Ballarat, and I felt that jockeys aren’t going to go out and give career best rides every time they go out to ride,’’ he said.
‘’But you’ve got to be able to balance it all out with everything put in front of you. And from a VJA perspective, it was important for us that it’s a very hefty penalty to pay.
‘’We felt strongly in support of Sarah. We could understand why the stewards may have questioned her tactics, but we didn’t believe the ride was a blame-worthy ride and impacted where the horse finished.
‘’In actual fact, the VJA felt like it performed clearly well above what market expectations had. And based on looking at [Black Hex’s] overall form, particularly on grass tracks, it performed better than its form suggested.
‘There’s no criticism on stewards asking questions about certain rides, but … it was a serious charge, and the penalty was at the top end of that as well.
‘’Five weeks is a long period of time to spend on the sidelines for a charge that you don’t necessarily agree with, and she’s a member of our organisation, and she deserves to get the representation. If we didn’t feel strongly about it, we would advise her against appealing. We only advise our members to appeal if we feel that they have been unfairly penalised or unfairly charged.’’
Hyland said the organisation don’t feel the need to raise the issue further with Victorian Stewards considering the successful appeal.
‘’I think the result speaks for itself, and the natural fairness has been found, justice has been found,’’ he said.
‘’All we’d say is that if going forward, if we feel that our members are unfairly prosecuted or charged or penalised, we will always encourage them to appeal.’’
