Winks reserved his plea into the interference at Geelong on September 5 when Hernan's mount Karla's Joie clipped the heels of Winks' mount Stanza Spirit near the 100-metre mark of the 0-68 Handicap. But stewards ruled he was guilty of careless riding.

Daniel Aurisch, who was acting chairman of stewards at Geelong, said after the inquiry yesterday that normally a rider would be suspended for at least a calendar month for careless riding that results in another rider being injured. But he shaved four meetings off Winks' sentence, which allows him to take the Douro Valley ride at Sha Tin on December 14.

Aurisch said stewards had taken into account that Eddie Cassar's mount, Ninety Four, had shifted before the incident and also that Winks had a good record when reducing his sentence from a potential 34 meetings to 30.

The suspension began last night and Winks had to relinquish his mounts at Ballarat tomorrow to be able to return on the morning of the meeting in Hong Kong.

Stewards had adjourned the inquiry into the fall as Hernan had been seriously injured and could not give evidence until yesterday.

Hernan told the inquiry that he had no recollection of the fall but, after watching a replay of the race, agreed that his mount fell after clipping the heels of Winks' mount.

Winks said there were contributing factors into the incident, particularly that Ninety Four shifted twice on his inside.

"If he (Cassar) doesn't shift around, the incident doesn't happen," he said. "But I am not denying the fact that I did shift out and he (Hernan) gets my heels."

Winks said he was told by three other people that Hernan's mount may have had a heart attack shortly before the fall. "If a horse is dying and going down under those circumstances, then you get no response from the horse," he said.