Star jumps jockey Steven Pateman back in action at Warrnambool after missing last year
Pateman was serving the final days of a nine-month disqualification, watching his colleagues thrive on their biggest stage a week before he was able to resume riding and training from his Geelong base.
He said being unable to ride at Warrnambool last year only heightened his excitement for the 2025 carnival.
'It's really exciting especially when we're going to have three runners of our own, including one in the Grand Annual,' he said.
'To just miss last year by a few days, makes it even more exciting.'
Pateman's Warrnambool May Carnival record shows the reason for his desperation to return to the famous western Victorian circuit this week.
Pateman has won three Grand Annual Steeplechases, four Galleywood Hurdles and four Brierly Steeplechases.
Now 42, Pateman said he was as fit as ever and retained the drive that took him to the top of the Australian jumps riding ranks.
'I got up to 84kg when I was out but my body must have needed a break when I was out,' Pateman said.
'I was able to get my weight down really well when I came back and I've maintained it now.
'Age is just a number. I'm loving race riding so I'll keep going as long as I can.
'As long as I keep enjoying it, I'll keep doing it.'
Pateman still marvels at his career trajectory, which took him from Margaret River in WA to starting work for the David Hayes stable at Lindsay Park in the late 1990s.
But he said he has only wanted to work with horses, which made his time out of racing more difficult.
'I'm from Margaret River in Western Australia so how it has all come about has been crazy,' Pateman said.
'I've ended up being a jumps jockey because I've just found something that I love.
'It was really difficult in the first half of the disqualification because I've worked with horses since I started at Lindsay Park when I was 16, which was pretty young.
'I've never done anything else.
'I tried doing other things when I was disqualified but I just missed the horses so much.'
Pateman has two rides on Tuesday's opening day of the Warrnambool carnival.
He'll be aboard Normandy Bridge for champion trainer and Warrnambool local Ciaron Maher and Sing For Peace for the Patrick and Michelle Payne stable in divisions of the maiden hurdle.
The dual licence holder will also saddle up Saint Eustace for his first run in 18 months in a Benchmark 70 contest over 2350m.
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