DARWIN trainer Chris Pollard has been suspended for 12 months after exposing himself at a recent Fannie Bay race meeting.

Pollard was found to have urinated on an open window of the Northern Territory stewards’ room and was seen by two female members of the stewards’ panel. He is in the process of appealing against the severity of a nine-month ban for testing positive to cannabis and ice.

His appeal over the severity of that sentence is due to be heard by the NT Racing Appeals Tribunal later this month.

Thoroughbred Racing NT Chairman of Stewards David Hensler said Pollard’s actions were both offensive and indecent and showed a lack of respect and contempt for the stewards.

HELP SOUGHT

GEELONG Racing Club chief Daniel Salter says the club has asked for assistance from Country Racing Victoria as it adapts to a new business and financial model.

“We’ve had some redundancies and also for the first time we have transferred to the industry finance model for our accounts,” Salter said.

“We’ve also had significant expenditures with the new track, new horse stalls and a new bar, as well as some redundancies so cash flow is a bit tight.”

TELOPEA GUTSY

JOCKEY Craig Williams says English-bred Telopea has black-type “quality written all over her” after the mare kept her unbeaten Australian record intact with a gutsy victory over 1400m at Sandown on Wednesday.

Trained by Darren Weir, Telopea had one run in France where she was unplaced, before she was sent by Paul Fudge to Weir, who now has had three wins with her.

media_camera Craig Williams predicts bright future for Telopea. Picture: Hamish Blair

FILLY ALL KLASS

DARREN Weir says his first-up winner in the opening race at Sandown, Keep The Klass, is a handy stayer in the making.

He said the filly, ridden by Brad Rawiller in Wednesday’s 1500m maiden, was a definite 2000m horse. Weir said it was at the back of his mind to head to Morphettville for the South Australian Oaks on May 16.

“I’m not sure if she is good enough, but she is a nice enough stayer in the making,” Weir said.

PETITE’S GETS REWARD

AN eight day back-up from her first start to Wednesday’s 900m dash had Sandown didn’t faze Brendan McCartney’s two-year-old Petite’s Reward, which scored a long neck win over 100-1 shot Prussian Vixen in the Swettenham Stud Sprint.

The hardluck story of the race was Lee and Anthony Freedman’s Wingstack. A $370,000 purchase, the Lonhro filly got into trouble in the run but only finished half a head away from the second placegetter.

McCartney said Petite’s Reward was unlucky at her first start at Moonee Valley.

“It’s a big effort for a little horse and she is only tiny,” he said.

DUNN MISSES CLASH WITH DAD

APPRENTICE Dylan Dunn was robbed of the chance of beating his father Dwayne Dunn home in the fourth race at Sandown.

Dylan’s mount Rawnaq was scratched and will run at Bendigo’s metropolitan meeting on Saturday.

Dwayne’s mount, Duplicity Jones, went down by a half head to the Ciaron Maher-trained Jileks Spur which was ridden by Michelle Payne in the 3000m heat one of the marathon series.

media_camera Dylan and Dwayne Dunn. Picture: Sarah Reed

Maher said Jileks Spur had been schooled over hurdles leading into the race and was destined for a jumping career.

For the record, the Dunn’s have raced against each other twice, with dad finishing in front of his son both times.

CAMPER KEEPS WINNING

THERE were plenty of happy campers in the Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra training camp when Not A Happy Camper scored her second consecutive victory with a win over 1300m at Sandown.

After tackling some tough assignments last spring, Zahra said they were still trying to work out the filly who they thought was a 2000m-plus horse.

“But she just seems to grind away,” Zahra said. “When we stepped her up last time around, she really sort of faded.”

Zahra said they would step her up to 1600m and then evaluate her after she lost he way last campaign.