Silvestre de Sousa’s suspensions are keeping pace with his winners in the early stages of his much anticipated return to Hong Kong after the Brazilian received the wrath of stewards and was charged with careless riding for the second straight meeting.

De Sousa won the opening race on Cash Courier for Manfred Man Ka-leung, his second win in three meeting so far, but his mood soon took a turn for the worse when he was ousted for two days and fined HK$20,000 for careless riding in race five.

Stewards found de Sousa had shifted out on Dennis Yip Chor-hong’s Power Dragon over the closing stages in the Hibiscus Handicap, hindering Sight Seeing with 250m left to run.

The former British champion jockey had already earned a two-day ban at Wednesday’s midweek meeting that will see him miss Sunday’s Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse Day.

The back-to-back bans shouldn’t stop de Sousa attracting a big race ride on international day, with the second of his bans starting after the three crucial lead-up Group Two races on November 20.

Man was delighted with de Sousa’s typically strong-arm effort to extract a win out of Cash Courier.

The six-year-old gelding had dropped into Class Five during the off-season and had put in a sound effort when fourth over 1,600m at Sha Tin last time out.

Star jockey Silvestre de Sousa is back in Hong Kong and wants to make an impact in the big races

“The rating had dropped a long way, and the jockey gave him a good ride, Silvestre is very strong and when he goes for a horse they really try for him,” Man said, the trainer not sounding confident about Cash Courier’s chances with a step back up into Class Four. “He got the good draw with barrier one and a few things his way today, he didn’t win very easily. We will try our best but I think he needs some luck in his races.”

Opie Bosson has struggled for support of late and saw the lighter side of his suspension for careless riding on Grace Heart, with the champion New Zealander choosing to miss the big day on November 20. “It’s not like I had much on that day,” he said.

Sam Clipperton avoided suspension but was kept on his toes by stewards, the Australian jockey receiving a reprimand for shifting in late on Chevalier Star in race three and warnings for his riding in the straight on Superoi and Chiu Chow Kid in the final two races.