Pike In Hot Water With The Stewards After Group One Ride

William Pike suspended after Winterbottom Ride

Leading Western Australian jockey Willie Pike has found himself in trouble with racing officials on Saturday after he was cited for careless riding in the Group One Winterbottom Stakes in an incident that nearly caused Damien Oliver to fall from his ride. 

Pike has been slapped with a 22 day suspension following the inquiry which found him to be guilty of careless riding.

Racing WA Stewards said Pike had allowed his ride, race runner up Oscar’s Fortune,to shift during the run at the 800m marker when not clear of Resortman ridden by Nash Rawiller.

As a result, Resortman was carried inwards onto the third-placed Ripcord ridden by Clint Johnstone-Porter, which in turn was held tight and carried inwards onto Oliver's mount Triple Missile, which blundered from heels. Oliver was almost thrown from his horse after the incident.

When handing out punishment to Pike, Stewards stated that the severity of the citing was low to medium despite the altercation impacting three separate runners.

Pike will now face 22 days out of the saddle with his ban starting at midnight on Saturday 9th and ending on the 31st December with him set to miss a large portion of the WA Racing Carnival.

Unlike if the incident had happened in a normal metro race punishment would have been more lenient, but the fact the offence occurred during a Group 1 race means the suspension includes an additional 10-day tariff.

The Winterbottom Stakes were won by Bjorn Baker trained overpass who returned to WA to claim a second Group One title in consecutive years.

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