High-profile jockey Corey Brown is the latest to be fined after being caught with a modified safety vest.
Brown was fined $1000 at Canterbury on Wednesday after pleading guilty to weighing out for a race at the same track a week earlier wearing a vest that had been modified.
Stewards adjourned the inquiry until Wednesday so the manufacturer could be contacted after initial evidence was given by Brown.
The manufacturer confirmed to stewards the model of vest should have two layers of foam in it rather than just one which Brown’s vest had.
Brown maintained he never removed a layer of padding but admitted to taking the tailpiece out because he said it had been annoying him in races.
“I only took one piece out of the back,” Brown said.
“It’s about 12 years old, and I only took the back piece out because it used to jump up and down at the back of my pants and drive me mad.”
Brown said he only recently started using the vest in question again after he had another vest taken away by chief steward Ray Murrihy at Scone because it was worn out.
“I have got a heavy vest that I use for heavy rides and I’ve got that one,” Brown said.
Deputy chief steward Marc Van Gestel issued the fine for Brown’s admission that he removed the tail piece and then placed the jockey on notice that stewards would continue to clamp down on riders weighing out with the modified equipment.
AAP TURF
