LEADING Southern District apprentice jockey Nick Heywood will miss out on riding High Opinion in Friday’s $150,000 Wagga Gold Cup (2000m).
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Wagga trainer Chris Heywood is ‘shattered’ after an attempt to gain a stay of proceedings for Nick was denied.
The promising Wagga apprentice was suspended at Gosford last week but the Heywood team hoped to gain a stay of proceedings for Cup week to appeal the sentence.
Stewards denied the stay of proceedings and scheduled the appeal for Wednesday in Sydney. The appeal will now be withdrawn.
Top country jockey Mathew Cahill will replace Nick on High Opinion for the feature race.
Chris is devastated to see his son miss out on the ride in the Cup.
“I’m absolutely shattered,” Chris said.
“Nick is surprisingly alright but I think it will hit him more when he gets there.”
Nick Heywood has ridden High Opinion in 14 of his 22 starts and at his last three victories.
Cahill will step in for his first ride on the four-year-old on Friday.
“The owners were keen to get Matty. If Nick couldn’t ride him the day of the Championships at Randwick then Mat was going to ride.
“He’s been on standby for a while with him.”
Despite winning the MTC Country Cup at Wagga last week, High Opinion is still 24th on the order of entry for the Cup. The final field will be released on Tuesday.