KEY POINTS:
Prominent Cambridge-based jockey Mat Cameron was yesterday disqualified for six months for falsifying evidence and providing stewards with misleading evidence.
In a separate inquiry, fellow jockey Chad Ormsby was suspended for three weeks on a charge of improper riding.
Cameron's charge arose from not showing up to ride at the Te Aroha races on November 28.
He gave evidence that he had had car problems on the way to Te Aroha and was then asked to produce documentation to confirm that the following day at the Levin Stakes meeting at Otaki.
Cameron arrived at Otaki without the car repair documents and was directed to fax them through to New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing overnight.
Stewards suspected the documents had been altered and when the car repair company concerned was contacted it was confirmed that the repairs the document referred to were carried out in March and that the dates had been altered.
At yesterday's hearing in Hamilton, Cameron was given two months suspension for falsifying the documents and six months' disqualification for giving misleading evidence.
The two are to run concurrently.
"I hope that this sends a clear message that if you're going to give evidence, make sure it's true," said New Zealand's chief stipendiary steward Cameron George, who laid the charges.
"This is a charge that would have resulted in a $300 - $500 fine, now it's six months' disqualification."
Cameron has had an up-and-down year.
In January at Trentham he scored the biggest win of his career when he brought Willy Smith along at exactly the right time to score a thrilling Wellington Cup victory over Saturday's Waikato Gold Cup winner Mirkola Lass.
Later in the season he moved to Sydney to ride for Gerald Ryan, but that contract was curtailed by the equine influenza outbreak.
Cameron returned to New Zealand a couple of months ago and was just starting to put his local career back together.
Ormsby was charged with improper riding when he kicked his mount up after the finish line at Te Aroha races on November 28 to get alongside the horse ridden by Matamata apprentice Johannah Smellie.
Ormsby appeared to momentarily jostle Smellie, in apparent retaliation for interference she might have caused to Ormsby's mount late in the race.
Ormsby pleaded guilty, which is probably reflected in the minimal penalty.
