Talented apprentice Chad Schofield endured one of most harrowing days of his short and chequered career when he was suspended for 27 meetings and fined $1500 at Caulfield on Monday.
Schofield also rode a winner on the card, but any joy it may have provided was overshadowed by the heavy suspension and the fine for weighing in light.
The ban is the ninth since last October for the 18-year-old and by the time it is completed he will have missed 112 meetings through suspension in six months.
Schofield pleaded guilty to deliberately riding his horse Friday Hussy into Kolokotronis ridden by Chris Symons in the Wellington Handicap.
The move pushed Symons and his horse toward the fence, allowing Friday Hussy to take a two-wide position from which he went on to win the race.
Schofield said he had merely been “testing the waters” when he applied pressure to Symons’ horse, but the stewards disagreed, charging him with improper riding, to which he pleaded guilty.
The suspension begins after Wednesday’s Sandown meeting and continues until midnight on April 27.
But for the guilty plea, acting chief steward Robert Cram said the penalty would have been 32 meetings.
Schofield also featured in a probe into him weighing in light after the opening race at Caulfield in which he finished fourth on Green Roller.
The stewards heard Schofield had weighed out at the correct weight, but was more than half a kilo light when he weighed back in.
Investigations revealed that two pieces of lead Schofield believed he had placed in his gear had gone missing and could not be found.
Schofield, along with the clerk of scales, agreed the missing lead pieces had been with Schofield’s riding tack when he weighed out and the jockey believed he had placed them in the bag.
But during a protracted inquiry he conceded he must have forgotten to place the lead in the pockets that normally hold it in a lead bag that is placed under his saddle.
“It is something I do every time I ride and I was almost certain I put the lead in this time,” Schofield told the inquiry.
“But the lead can’t be found so I am beginning to doubt myself.”
He pleaded guilty to a charge of weighing in light and was fined,
Green Roller was disqualified from fourth place.
