The Racing NSW appeals panel has delayed a decision on whether James McDonald will be granted a reduction on an 18-month disqualification over a betting scandal after his legal counsel argued it should be more than halved on Monday.
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The 25-year-old will be forced to wait until later this week - or even early next week - to learn his fate after the three-man appeals panel adjourned to sift through written submissions from McDonald's representatives and Racing NSW stewards.
McDonald's legal counsel Bret Walker, SC, argued a six to nine-month suspension - rather than the more serious disqualification - would have been "the appropriate range" and would still "send a message to the participants and general public" after McDonald pleaded guilty to being party to a $1000 bet on subsequent group 1-winning colt Astern on debut in December 2015.
The colt won the race and later went on to win the Golden Rose in October last year with McDonald in the saddle.
Walker said Godolphin's former retained rider, who was axed by the global racing and breeding giant after the betting scandal, had volunteered to travel throughout the state to speak at apprentice schools with the help of the NSW Jockeys Association if his sanction was reduced to a suspension.
Walker said McDonald won't "relatively be known as a cleanskin again" and implored the panel to take into consideration the bet was on his own mount and not a rival horse, as was found in the Damien Oliver case.
But Racing NSW's chief steward Marc van Gestel took the appeals panel through more than 50 pages of transcripts from an interview with McDonald during their investigation in which McDonald said multiple times "I swear" when asked if he was sure he hadn't had financial dealings with Sydney betting ring regular Anthony Gardiner.
It was only 28 pages into the transcript and after repeated probing in which McDonald made concessions about the bet on Astern, van Gestel said, hardly the co-operation that warranted a huge discount on penalty.
The Australian rules of racing say any jockey found to flout the strict no-betting rules should receive a mandatory minimum two-year penalty.
McDonald was sensationally charged and later banned for 18 months by Racing NSW stewards after a joint investigation with the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission uncovered links with Gardiner, often referred to as "the tennis player".
Gardiner has been warned off all NSW racetracks for failing to agree to be interviewed by stewards.
