Jumps jockey Paul Hamblin will appeal against a careless riding suspension after stewards found him guilty of being responsible for the fall of his mount Phaze Action in the Brierly Steeplechase at Warrnambool.
Racing Victoria stewards, chaired by Terry Bailey, found that Hamblin rode Phaze Action in the approach to the third last fence where there was insufficient room for both his mount and Sea Town.
Phaze Action crashed through the inside wing and was the only horse to fail to complete the course of the 12 runners.
The Matthew Hyland-trained eight-year-old, a previous-start Sandown Steeple winner with Hamblin aboard, was not injured in the incident.
Phaze Action was found to have bled through both nostrils however stewards determined it was caused by the fall. This enabled the gelding to avoid a regulation three-month ban.
Hamblin, who hasn’t been suspended for two years, asked for a fine rather than a suspension.
But stewards outed Hamblin, who doesn’t have any other rides at the Warrnambool carnival, from midnight on Tuesday until after the maiden hurdle at Ballarat on May 10.
Hamblin told stewards that he believed there was enough room but Phaze Action was inexperienced.
“He’s not an easy horse to ride,” he said.
“I thought there was room. On any other horse I would have had room.”
The stewards dismissed photographs of the incident supplied by a freelance photographer which Hamblin believed would support his case.
