Apprentice Luke Tarrant will weigh up his appeal options after being suspended for excessive whip use in the biggest win of his career, the $2 million Magic Millions Classic.
Brisbane’s leading rider, Tarrant was banned for a month on two charges relating to his use of the whip in different races at Saturday’s Gold Coast meeting.
He pleaded guilty to using his whip on Le Chef in the Classic more than the permitted five times before the 100 metres and was outed for three weeks.
In the following race he also pleaded guilty to the same charge for overuse of the whip aboard Phelan Ready in the Magic Millions Cup for which he received an additional one week ban.
As it stands, Tarrant will not return to riding until February 15.
He was not the only jockey to feel the wrath of stewards with reigning premier Tim Bell also falling foul of the whip rule as well as being hit with a careless riding suspension.
Bell pleaded guilty to careless riding aboard Tinto in the Magic Millions Stayers Cup and was outed for seven meetings. After that suspension is completed he will spend a further week on the sidelines for overuse of the whip aboard Madotti in the Millions Classic.
Sydney jockeys Christian Reith and Tim Clark will also spend time on the sidelines after incurring careless riding bans.
