Top Melbourne jockey Dwayne Dunn’s premiership hopes hinge on his performance at Flemington Saturday.
Dunn’s chance of winning his first Melbourne jockey’s premiership look dashed after he received an eleven meeting careless riding suspension from the Moonee Valley meeting on Wednesday.
A winning treble at Moonee Valley saw Dunn shoot back to the top of the table with fifty-five wins, one ahead of Craig Williams and three ahead of Damien Oliver, but with his suspension to commence after Saturday’s Flemington meeting, Dunn will miss the last three meetings of the season.
Dunn is contemplating appealing the decision of the Stewards who found him guilty of causing interference to Tom Puss at the 1300m in the $35,000 Telstra Business Centre Point Cook BenchMark 64 Handicap (1600m).
Dunn went on to win the race on the Peter Moody trained Unassailed, the first of a winning double for the pair with Blendwell winning the next race, the $35,000 Vita Group BenchMark 78 Handicap (1600m).
A win on the Shaun Dwyer trained Lazyaxl wrapped up Dunn’s Moonee Valley winning treble and another multiple winning day at Flemington would be very welcome.
Dunn said that he pleaded guilty to the charge of careless riding but was surprised that the Stewards rated it in the mid-range category.
“I don’t think it’s mid-range for what it was,” Dunn told AAP.
“I pleaded guilty so they can’t go any other way than that, but as far as mid-range I think it’s pretty harsh.
“I’ve got a good record, I pleaded guilty and I think he (Craig Robertson on Tom Puss) on my inside over-reacted.”
Dunn rates his Flemington form a bit below his Caulfield, Sandown and Moonee Valley form but will be doing his best back at headquarters this weekend.
“My form is better at Caulfield, Sandown and Moonee Valley but we haven’t had that many meetings at those tracks,” Dunn said.
“We’ve instead been racing at Flemington, Ballarat and around the bush, but at the end it is what it is.”
Even if Dunn is pipped at the post by either Williams or Oliver, he still had a very successful year in the saddle which included a Group 1 win on Shamal Wind in the $400,000 Oakleigh Plate (1100m) at Caulfield during the 2015 Melbourne Autumn Carnival.
“These are sort of the numbers I run every year but it’s been a competitive year between the top 10 or 15 riders,” Dunn said.
“I’ve had a really good season and set myself my own goals which I’ve been able to achieve, so that’s all that I can ask for.
“We’ve got Saturday and if I can pull out another three on Saturday, I suppose I can make it competitive to the end.”
Dunn’s has eight rides at Flemington on Saturday: Race 1: Vicious ($9 with Ladbrokes.com.au), Race 2: La Venta ($7.50), Race 4: Il Cavallo ($3.40 favourite), Race 5: Herstory ($4 favourite), Race 6: Lockroy ($8.50), Race 7: Albonetti ($19), Race 8: Stratigraphy ($20), Race 9: Trade Commissioner ($10).
