THERE were several talking points that arose from the Flemington meeting which contained Benchmark races.
The main two involved apprentice Celine Gaudray which centred on how well she is riding and her subsequent suspension which arose from the second leg of her winning double on So Risque.
Gaudray also rode a winning double at Mornington on Sunday.
In the metropolitan area she has ridden 23 winners for the season and is equal third on the premiership table.
She leads another talented apprentice in Carlee Hefel by four in the race for the apprentice’s championship.
Gaudray has a strike rate of 15.80% in the city which is the second best for the top 20 jockeys only bettered by Damian Lane’s amazing 20.8%.
One media commentator suggested she was riding better than Jamie Kah.
Gaudray was charged with overuse of the whip as the stewards found she had used it more than ten times prior to the 100 metres mark.
She was suspended for ten meetings and fined $1500.
Despite So Risque winning by a head, RV stewards didn’t fire in a protest which begs the question when would they.
As history has proven they did that when there was a dead-heat and upheld the protest against the whip aggressor. That’s the obvious answer as to when they will do it.
