Vincent Ho Chak-yiu could be sidelined for as long as six weeks, while Hugh Bowman felt the wrath of the stewards after walking away from a fall of his own at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Ho has been experiencing neck pain since his nasty tumble from Romantic Charm at Sha Tin on Wednesday night, however officials confirmed it is a finger injury that will see the star local jockey face an extended stint on the sidelines.

Ho has had surgery on the middle finger of his left hand, with Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges suggesting it is an injury expected to take four to six weeks to heal.

Bowman, on the other hand, was able to continue riding despite being left battered and bruised following the second scary fall at Sha Tin in the space of four days.

Bowman hit the turf after being dislodged from the David Hayes-trained One Heart One approaching the 300m in the Class Five Lung Yat Handicap (1,600m), with the star Australian jockey left holding his leg after appearing to be clipped by Starship Eighty.

Stewards determined that Bowman “permitted his mount to shift out when positioned too close to the heels of Charmander, resulting in One Heart One striking the heels of Charmander, blundering and almost falling”.

One Heart One suffered injuries to both front legs and, after being treated at the equine hospital, had to be humanely euthanised.

Bowman pleaded guilty to careless riding and was suspended for three meetings and fined HK$60,000. It’s Bowman’s second careless riding charge in as many meetings, with the jockey lodging an appeal against the two-meeting suspension and HK$30,000 fine he received on Wednesday.

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The positive, of course, is that Bowman was able to continue riding, but the 43-year-old might have wished he’d hit the showers in the lead-up to race five, with Mark Newnham’s Beer Palace causing all sorts of trouble on the way to the gates.

After mounting and dismounting the fractious Beer Palace a handful of times, Bowman eventually gave up and the rogue galloper was scratched.

It didn’t get all that much better on the track for Bowman, with Wellington’s Group One Centenary Sprint Cup (1,200m) third the jockey’s best return for the afternoon.

‘Terrific’ Star Mac onto Mile

David Hayes will push onto next weekend’s Classic Mile with Star Mac after the four-year-old finished nicely for third in the Class Three Yan Tin Handicap (1,600m).

Star Mac went into Sunday’s contest off a mark of 62 and will be by far the lowest-rated runner in the Classic Mile, but Hayes is confident the son of Heroic Valour has ability.

“I think it was a terrific run. He’ll run next week and then probably won’t run until the [Classic Cup]. If things fall for him, he can pop up and surprise in a good race. Especially at 2,000m,” Hayes said, suggesting Star Mac will be better for the experience after working home in traffic.

“The reason I put him in this was to get a few points to get into the Classic Mile. If I knew he was in I wouldn’t have run him, but I think he needs the experience anyway.”

Star Mac is expected to face nine rivals in the first leg of the four-year-old series, with Frankie Lor Fu-chuen’s Dream Winner the latest withdrawal.

So, De Melo land another blow

Trainer Chris So Wai-yin and jockey Keagan de Melo teamed up to send punters reeling for the second consecutive meeting, taking out the Class Four Po Tin Handicap (1,400m) with $34 chance Panda Legend.

The duo ensured there wasn’t a single winner of the Triple Trio at Wednesday night’s Sha Tin all-weather meeting, combining to snare the final leg of the exotic with Strive For Glory at $40, and they again conspired to stump bettors on Sunday.

But they didn’t wait until the final leg this time, greeting Triple Trio punters with a brutal opening-leg blow.

While legs two and three were well and truly gettable, Panda Legend’s knockout victory and I Can’s third placing at $64 again contributed heavily to there being no winners and a jackpot of over HK$4 million was carried forward to next weekend’s meeting.

After consecutive sixths on the dirt, Panda Legend switched to the turf for this contest and So confirmed the lightly raced five-year-old just needed time.

After lameness delayed his debut, Panda Legend finished a long last in his only run for Tony Millard before slowly coming around under So’s tutelage.

“When I took him, he had a lot of problems, so we were lucky we had time to fix it,” So said. “Slowly the horse has picked up and even the last two runs the horse has done well on the dirt.

“I think the horse has ability, he’s more mature now and he’s handled the problems. I think the horse is still improving – he’s better than Class Four for me.”