Premier jockey Hugh Bowman had a sweet and sour day on Saturday, he left Rosehill riding half the program with four winners, but also lighter in the pocket and suspended.
The winners flowed, Centre Pivot, Wudang Mountain, Sultry Feeling and Berrimilla. However Bowman was suspended for five meetings, starting after next Saturday and will miss the Golden Rose meeting. He was also given a $600 fine for striking Berrimilla nine times before the 100 metres with the whip.
It was the winning ride on promising three-year-old Wudang Mountain that landed him in trouble with the stewards. Bowman pushed to go to the outside of River Wild at the top of the straight, as he did the leader ran to the centre of the track.
Wudang Mountain and Let's Make It Rain, which were making their runs together, squeezed out Jadeer.
Wudang Mountain will be a horse for Bowman to look forward to on his return.
"He was really suited by a strong-run 1400m," Bowman said. "He is a nice horse, it was no surprise he won. He has that middle-distance feel about him and there is more to come."
Bowman might have been beaten on Japonisme in the Run To The Rose but he got a win in the cerise colours when seven-year-old mare Berrimilla scored to complete his four-timer. "It means a lot to me to win on this horse that I have ridden for years," Bowman said. "It is always great to have a winner for the Inghams. There has been a few hard luck stories on her as she tends to lay in under pressure."
It completed a winning double for Chris Waller after the Wudang Mountain win and he also won the first group 1 of the year with Boban taking out the Memsie Stakes at Caulfield. Waller believes Bowman is just getting better.
"He's become a very tactical and thinking jockey," Waller said. "I think early days he was just strength and aggression but now he's just so methodical with what he does and he's never lost sight of getting a horse to relax, which is always good for the end of a race.
"I think he's maturing all the time, he's a pleasure to have aboard."
