Racing
Suspensions and the Premierships state of play
The turn of the month will mark four more weeks of racing until Australian jockey premierships are decided.
Depending on which city is concerned, between seven and nine metropolitan meetings are scheduled and the race is remarkably tight in some of them.
As the calendar shortly ticks over to July, the national premiership is up for grabs and although he may not hold on to his lead, Blake Shinn's season will be no less significant.
Shinn was sidelined in May and, at this stage, seems unlikely to return to the saddle before August to stave off challenges from one side of the country to the other.
After racing on Sunday, Shinn leads the Australian jockeys' premiership with 150 wins at a strike-rate of 22.6%.
Hot on his tail is William Pike with 147½ wins with a winning rate of 24.2%, and put alongside Shinn's figures, anyone would like to achieve a success rate of nearly one-in-four wherever their saddles will travel.
Christian Johnston-Porter's five-timer at Pinjarra on Saturday saw him rise to third nationally with 131 wins and any repeats of that kind of form may see him steam home solidly.
Craig Williams' two-week suspension ends after this weekend and will have a handful of Melbourne metro meetings to chase down Shinn's tally of 67 wins at a strike-rate of 18.4% in that city.
Williams will be shooting for a tenth Melbourne jockeys' premiership to equal Damien Oliver's record.
Two cities see female jockeys dualling for their crowns with Angela Jones and Emily Lang in Brisbane separated by one win after Jones' treble on Saturday at Eagle Farm took her to 60.
Key though, Jones was suspended by for ten meetings after the Group 1 Tatt's Tiara with that time to begin after this Saturday's Sunshine Coast meeting which rounds out the Queensland Racing Carnival.
The Adelaide metro premiership is the only one where bookmakers are willing to keep markets open for the tussle with Rochelle Milnes a $1.60 chance on 42 wins, with Taylor Johnstone at $3.60 and three wins behind.
A bumper month for Lachlan Neindorf is needed to bridge the six-win gap and he is rated at $6 to do that.
In Sydney, James Mcdonald sits on 83 wins with his closest rival Zac Lloyd on 64 while Anthony Darmanin and Jarrod Todd look to have a safe gap on their oppositions in Tasmania and Northern Territory respectively.
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