It was a case of ‘welcome to New South Wales racing’ for gun rider Willie Pike who saw more action than he probably wanted to in his first ride since relocating from Western Australia.
Pike was riding the Peter and Paul Snowden trained Choix De La Mer in the third race at Wyong when he attempted to take a tight rails run inside of Fielding (the $3.40 second favourite), who was being ridden by Darryl McLellan.
It always looked to be a marginal call by Pike as to whether the run was fully there or not, but when Fielding shifted in and closed that option for Pike and Choix La Mer, Pike was no longer in any position to kick off his spell in New South Wales on a winning note.
Chois La Mer would ultimately finish third behind the $2.40 favourite Camino Real who swept down the centre of the track, rubber stamping a tremendous training effort by James Cummings who brought Camino Real back a winner, first-up after just short of twelve month away from race action.
Fielding stayed on for second with Choix La Mer finished third, after Pike had take to take hold his mount when that gap closed … before fighting on again to the line,
Pike was not done yet though and he elected to have another throw at the stumps by protesting against Fielding.
That proved to be to no avail as the protest was dismissed, but the ‘incident’ arguably did show what most people knew anyway, namely that Pike will not be given any favours in races … no quarter is ever asked for or given in the heat of battle in such a competitive jockey’s environment … but it also showed that Pike will always stand up for himself and not be cowed by his new surroundings.
The extract from the official steward’s reports reads:
‘Choix De La Mer – Stewards considered a protest lodged by W Pike, rider of 3rd placegetter, Choix De La Mer, against 2nd placegetter, Fielding, alleging interference approaching the 100m. After considering all the evidence, the Stewards found that approaching the 100m Choix De La Mer improved into a narrow run to the inside ofFielding and a short distance later Fielding shifted in, before being corrected by its rider. As a result Choix De La Mer had to be steadied when crowded. Bearing in mind the margin of half a length and the manner in which both horses finished their races off, Stewards could not be satisfied that Choix De La Mer would have finished in front of Fielding and, therefore, dismissed the protest. At a subsequent inquiry D McLellan, rider of Fielding, was advised to exercise more care.’
