Premiership pacesetter Hugh Bowman will forgo the ride on Beaten Up in the Expressway Stakes after opting for an immediate start to a five-meeting ban as Blake Shinn clawed back the margin in the Sydney jockeys' title on Monday.
Bowman pleaded guilty to a careless riding charge stemming from the second event at Canterbury. He won on the track and in the stewards room for Bart and James Cummings' Colour Of Money despite shifting out shortly after entering the straight.
Brodie Loy quickly lodged a protest on behalf of Wildenstein, which lost momentum before rallying for third after the buffeting from Colour Of Money as Bowman, who clings to a 1½-win lead over Shinn in the title race, angled for a run.
Stewards cited the eventual margin of 1½ lengths between Colour Of Money and Wildenstein for throwing out the protest, but pinned Bowman with a careless riding charge and a $1000 fine after Wildenstein also hampered Kareem's Edge and Glorious Prospect.
He will be out from Thursday and return for the Breeders' Classic meeting at Rosehill on February 7.
"It's an error of judgment and I put myself at an angle that was too acute," Bowman told stewards.
Bowman's day started on an equally dramatic note when Godolphin's Salt Flat, seeking to become John O'Shea's ninth individual two-year-old winner for the season, bombed the start in the opener and could only grind home for fourth.
The race was won in a five-length romp by Mike Moroney's Serenade, whose only other start was an inglorious Gosford effort last month when she beat home just one runner.
"She went woeful at [Gosford] and we were very disappointed," Moroney's Sydney foreman Robbie Hewitson told stewards. "Every time [Jay Ford] went to go for her she got slower. She jumped with them at least today and Brenton [Avdulla] said she got there quite easy. She's always shown a bit at home. Blinkers is all we could put it down to."
Avdulla's day was later soured when he copped his second careless riding charge in three days after shifting in on Inz'n'Out in the fifth. His six-meeting ban, which will be served straight after the suspension incurred at Randwick on Friday, means he will forgo the ride on Red Excitement next start before returning on February 21.
Thomas Huet was also banned for five meetings as stipes logged overtime on Australia Day.
Melbourne filly Fontiton continued her march towards the big two-year-old riches on offer in the Blue Diamond after a tradesmanlike win in the group-3 fillies preview at Sandown on Monday. Robert Smerdon's debut winner at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate day returned under Mark Zahra to reel in the gallant Haybah.
"If she was really fit I reckon she would have put them away quite easily," Zahra said.
Robbie Griffiths' Burnstone was a runaway victor on debut in the colts and geldings division. Fontiton is a $4.40 Blue Diamond favourite with Burnstone on the third line of betting at $8 with Tab.com.au.
Meanwhile, the Sydney racing community is mourning the death of longtime Australian Turf Club employee Bob Rowles, who worked on Sydney racetracks for almost 70 years before his retirement in 2013. He was 98.
Rowles started work with the Australian Jockey Club on Australia Day in 1946 and gained huge respect among the training and riding fraternity for his work on the door of the Randwick jockeys' room. It was later renamed in honour of Rowles after the completion of the $150 million Queen Elizabeth II grandstand in 2013.
"We will always remember Bob as one of our greatest employees and all of the staff who worked with him, as well as countless numbers of jockeys, will miss him," ATC chief executive officer Darren Pearce said.
"There are so many people who work behind the scenes on every race day, and in Bob Rowles you couldn't find a more loved and respected person amongst them."
Also, Sir Patrick Hogan walked the last Zabeel progeny ever to go through a sales ring at Karaka on Monday as the colt out of Organdy sold for $NZ160,000 ($151,000).
