4 Dec 2008

Top Sydney jockey cleared to ride again at home

6:02 am on 4 December 2008

The leading Australian jockey Chris Munce has been cleared to ride again in his home country despite receiving a further ban from the Hong Kong Jockey Club after spending two years in prison for his part in a betting scandal.

Munce was transferred to a Sydney jail in September last year and released early last month for good behaviour.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club wanted Munce to serve a further nine months ban, but Racing New South Wales has waived the extra term saying it was tied to a criminal offence under Hong Kong law which didn't exist in Australia.

In Australia, jockeys are banned from supplying tips but offences are dealt with by racing authorities and are not treated as crimes.

Munce is one of Australia's best-known jockeys and he won the Melbourne Cup on the New Zealand mare Jezabeel in 1998.