Gloom For Oliver, Joy For Shinn

Jockey Damien Oliver exited the G1 Cox Plate with a costly 20-meeting suspension which rules him out of taking the ride aboard last year's winner Almandin (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) in the G1 Melbourne Cup. Oliver, who also missed the ride on Almandin last year over not being able to make the weight, rode Happy Clapper (Aus) (Teofilo {Ire}) in Saturday's Cox Plate and was penalised for causing interference in the early stages of the race as he shifted in on the Dean Yendall ridden Royal Symphony (Aus) (Domesday {Aus}). “It's a Cox Plate, there's a lot of adrenaline rushing,” Oliver told stewards. “I thought it was safe to assume that Dean was going to the fence. I've tried it, it hasn't worked and he's pushed me back out.” The ban rules Oliver out of all four days of the Flemington Carnival and the jockey has a 48 hour window to appeal the severity of the ban.

Blake Shinn will have rather happier memories of 2017 Cox Plate day as he steered home four winners, all in stakes races. While he admittedly could have played the villain's role if he had beaten Winx aboard Humidor (NZ) (Teofilo {Ire}) in the feature race Blake was otherwise the toast of those who followed him throughout the afternoon. Shinn's four winners were for four different trainers and he combined with Chris Waller to claim the G2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup with Who Shot Thebarman (NZ) (Yamanin Vital {NZ}) before registering another Group 2 win aboard the Darren Weir trained Lucky Hussler (Aus) (Husson {Arg}) in the G2 Schweppes Crystal Mile. Shinn kicked off his four-timer when partnering the Brendan McCarthy trained Blondie (Aus) (Reward For Effort {Aus}) to victory in the Listed Ladbrokes Crockett S. before teaming up with Bjorn Baker to win the G3 Powerflo Solutions S. with Lubiton (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}). “It's been an amazing day,” Shinn told Racing.com. “This is where the best of the best are – trainers, jockeys and horses – so I'm pretty proud to ride four winners, it's very special. I thought I had a reasonable book of rides but it's still very hard,” he added.