Hugh Bowman has won his appeal against a 20-day ban for his ride on Farnan in The Run To The Rose with the Racing NSW Appeals Panel overturning the stewards’ original decision.
The victory leaves Bowman free to continue riding through the Sydney spring after he was initially slated to miss four Group One races, including the Epsom Handicap and Metropolitan Handicap.
At a lengthy hearing on Thursday, the Panel found Bowman erred in his judgement aboard Farnan but not to a level that could be deemed culpable.
Bowman was originally suspended for almost three weeks by Racing NSW stewards, who charged him over his handling of Farnan in three stages of the race.
They felt Bowman should have sat outside eventual winner Rothfire in the early stages, rather than ride Farnan aggressively out of the gates to lead.
The jockey argued he thought the Tulloch Lodge colt would come back underneath him but Farnan continued to over-race.
“He probably wouldn’t have beaten Rothfire in all seriousness but had he come back a length and relaxed for me, it wouldn’t have looked so bad,” Bowman told stewards at the initial inquiry.
The majority of the Panel agreed Bowman made an error of judgement in the early stages of The Run To The Rose but did not find his effort blameworthy.
The Panel threw out the stewards’ second charge that Bowman did not do enough to restrain Farnan between the 900 metres and 400 metres.
The final charge related to Bowman continuing to push out the Tulloch Lodge colt around the home turn when stewards felt he should have conserved the horse’s energy.
The Panel found the top jockey’s decision to continue riding Farnan along at that point was wrong but was not worthy of a suspension.
Bowman has six rides at Rosehill on Saturday when he partners King’s Legacy in his quest for back-to-back wins in the $1 million Golden Rose.
