By MIKE DILLON
Chief stipe Noel McCutcheon told Matthew Williamson to curb it on Saturday and did not enjoy the experience.
As a former topline jockey, McCutcheon knows a jockey's ecstasy at winning a group one race.
But a job is a job. The previous Saturday he hammered Robert Hannam for standing tall in the saddle and flourishing his whip 30m short of the winning post on Greene Street in the Hawkes Bay Cup.
And on Saturday he had to interrupt the Zayyad $100,000 State Insurance Easter Handicap celebrations to grab Williamson by the ear and tell him the same thing.
"Your obligations are not finished until you weigh in," McCutcheon told the Takanini jockey, who had gone up in the saddle for an extended period, but not until the finish line had almost been reached.
McCutcheon later said: "I love to see people celebrate a win, but my job is to ensure safety.
"It's no good warning jockeys after there's been an accident.
"Imagine what the reaction of punters would be if a jockey fell off short of the finish line jumping out of the saddle and the horse lost the race as a result.
"I told Matthew that someone is going to get hurt if this practice continues. 'Fair enough' he said."
Williamson would have gracefully accepted a fine. The Zayyad win meant more than just the second group one victory of his career. It was the springboard of a resurrected career, one which was all but given up on three years ago.
Health problems, caused by severe wasting to ride Kate Kelly in an Auckland Cup at 49.5kg, saw Williamson consider alternative employment.
"I got a virus in my upper bowel as a result of the tough wasting and because I'd completely wrecked my immune system, it took me a year to come right.
"I'll never waste that hard again."
Racing has a strange way of twisting fortunes.
Not long after Williamson moved from Matamata to Takanini to try to kickstart his career following his year off, he was leaning over the rail one morning watching a screw-loose young horse giving his rider a hard time.
He had no way of knowing that horse would be his next group one winner.
"Zayyad was a basket case when he first came to Takanini," said Williamson.
Racing: Even warning cannot dull glow of winning
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