PUNTERS were happy to see Tigidig Tigidig cross the line first at WilliamHill.com.au Park on Wednesday, but they were soon to be outraged after the horse was disqualified.
Jockey Jye McNeil returned to scale 0.6kg under weight, prompting stewards to disqualify Tigidig Tigidig from the Ladbrokes Cash In Handicap.
Rules state that jockeys can ride at 0.5kg under their given weight, but no less, therefore McNeil broke the rules of racing and punters had to cop the repercussions. Trainer Vin Malady said the likely cause of McNeil weighing in light occurred in the weighing area before he picked up the saddle.
“I think the breakdown was at the scale area,” Malady told Racing Victoria.
“I’m very vigilant. I always saddle the horses myself.
“I checked the lead bag because if there’s a lead bag with a couple of bits of lead on one side, I always put that to the front of the horse.
“It had the exact amount of lead that Jye said was in there later in the stewards’ [inquiry] so all the gear was there. Everything was on the horse.
“The only explanation was that there was a breakdown at the weighing area.”
Malady argued that the 0.1kg difference would have not altered the result to Tigidig Tigidig’s win and the ability to call for the leather bridle would have helped get the horse over the weight tolerance barrier.
“Common sense in calling for the bridle would suffice but they have made the rules and they don’t bend too much,” Malady said.
Malady also stated that one of the owners in the horse are big punters, so they wouldn’t just be losing the stakemoney, but also out of their pockets.
“Some owners in the horse are big punters and they are pretty upset because they had some good money going onto the horse,” Malady said.
Thankfully our friends at Sportsbet.com.au paid out on Tigidig Tigidig. The good faith payout cost the bookmaker $124,000 but kept their punters happy.
Foreign Affair was promoted to first and McNeil was fined a hefty $2000.
Gelagotis aiming The Cleaner for Sydney autumn
The Cleaner is now with the Gelagotis brothers after former trainer Mick Burles turned down an offer to be involved with the horse, and now it’s possibly being aimed at a Sydney autumn preparation.
Stable manager Manny Gelagotis said they have ruled out a Melbourne autumn, but a one or two-race campaign in Sydney was on the agenda.
Two races being looked at are the $3 million Doncaster Handicap on April 2 and the $400,000 All Aged Stakes on April 16 – both races at Randwick.
“At this stage it would be 70/30 him going to Sydney, but if we’re not happy with him we’ll wait until August and the start of the Melbourne spring,” Gelagotis said.
Gelagotis said their new runner has settled into its new surroundings well after being transferred there three weeks ago.
“He’s naturally acclimatised to our environment. We’ve had a great discussion with his owners and we’ll continue to assess him as to whether he has a late autumn campaign in Sydney,” he said.
“He’s in light work. He’ll tell us how far he’ll go. If we’re not happy we’ll give him a bit more time but in terms of racing he’ll be racing again in the spring,” he added.
Gelagotis said The Cleaner passed the recent veterinary examination apart from a few niggles and they’re trying to put the Mick Burles saga behind them.
“He said something the other day on television. We bent over backwards to accommodate him and went over and above the call of duty, but it’s his call but he won’t be racing in his colours,” Gelagotis said.
“We’re just going to get on with the job of training him and not worry about him.”
Standout colt tops Magic Millions sale
An Exceed And Excel colt has topped the Magic Millions Yearling Sale to date with an $800,000 price tag.
The bay colt out of the Listed placed Common Smytzer was sold to George Moore Bloodstock, giving sellers Steve and Ceri Jostlear of Ampulla Lodge and Maureen Harvey from New Zealand a healthy profit after purchasing the colt for $300,000.
Moore, standing with father John, said the colt had everything they were looking for.
“We rate Exceed And Excel – he’s the real deal and we’ve been trying to buy them in Europe as well,” Moore said.
“We thought he would bring between six and eight hundred [thousand].”
John Moore trains out of Hong Kong, but until the right buyer comes along, the colt will stay in Australia for the meantime.
“We will keep him here in Australia for the moment, we don’t have a client for him yet but someone might well want to take him as a private purchase into Hong Kong,” George Moore said.
“I think he looks like an ideal 1200-metre sprint type, a very quick, forward two-year-old which is exactly what we need.
“We’ll have him broken-in in New South Wales and we’ll educate him and see where we go from there, no fixed plans at the moment.”
Punters can bet on Hong Kong racing with Sportsbet.com.au where the Moore-trained People’s Knight – a son of Exceed And Excel – won late last month.
“People’s Knight is a very good horse, owned by former leader of the Liberal Party in Hong Kong so I might just have to give him a call,” Moore said.
Delicacy goes out a winner
In disappointing news for all this week, 2016 Perth Cup winner Delicacy suffered injuries during the race and has subsequently been retired.
Owner Bob Peters was left with no choice but to retire the champion mare after it was found to be lame in front with the x-rays showing injuries to both forelegs.
“She will be retired,” Peters said. “She has two torn tendons. It’s as bad as it gets.”
Delicacy was a winner of 12 from 19 starts including the Australasian Oaks and South Australian Derby. The four-year-old won over $2.1 million in its limited career and will be sorely missed this season.