Bates, who rode Begood Toya Mother to win his first group race, the Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield in September, was dislodged from the Donna Mott trained Ski Zoom when she bucked twice in the mounting yard prior to the opening race at Geelong on November 10.

The popular Irish-born jockey, who is based in Warrnambool, said he was looking forward to having five rides on Tuesday.

"For the past few weeks I've been a bit bored at home so it's great that I'll be back riding," he said.

"I've been riding trackwork for a few weeks and the doctors are pleased with my progress. My fitness is very good because I've been working out in the gym and swimming but I'm sure my fitness will improve further on the back of five-race rides.

"My weight is pretty good. I only put on a couple of kilograms in my time out of the saddle. I knocked those couple of kilograms off over the last few weeks."

Bates had enjoyed a successful spring carnival, apart from winning the Rupert Clarke on Begood Toya Mother.

He also won the Regal Roller Stakes on Begood Toya Mother and rode Gamay to victory in the Ethereal Stakes at Caulfield in October.

"I've missed a few winning rides in the time that I've been on the sidelines," he said.

"There's nothing I can do about that but it's been disappointing. I'm looking forward to renewing acquaintances with Begood Toya Mother. James Winks has the ride on him in the Australian Stakes at the Valley on Friday night but I'm hopeful that I'll be back riding him after that run in other feature races."

Bates moved to Warrnambool with his wife Jennifer more than four years ago and they now have a daughter Molly.

NEWBURY showed he's on track for a big jumps season with a restricted flat win at Terang on Saturday.

Trainer Declan Maher said the long-term aim was for Newbury to run in some of the feature jumps races.

"Newbury ran in the Brierly and the Grand Annual last year," Maher said.

"He's a lot more seasoned horse this year. We'll take him over to Oakbank for jumps races at Easter but our long-term goal is to have another crack at the Grand Annual."

Newbury's only two race wins have been on the flat.

WARRNAMBOOL galloper Tough Vic lived up to his name when he won a benchmark 58 over 1700 metres at Penola last Thursday.

Tough Vic, a new acquisition to Adam Chambers stables, carried 61.5kgs in beating Maori Magic and Illowa.

"It was only Tough Vic's second run for me," Chambers said.

"It was a huge effort by the horse to win with that weight. I'm sure he'll improve on the back of that effort. We may step him out to 2000 metres next time. It was a very good ride by our jockey Luke Williams and I've also got to thank James McNamara for giving Tough Vic to me to train. I'm confident the connections will have a bit of fun with Tough Vic over the next few months."

Tough Vic has won six of his 40 starts.

Meanwhile, Williams, who has a dual trainers-jockey licence had his first ride on one of his own runners at Penola.

Young Lucas ran third in a maiden over 1700 metres for the Warrnambool-based jockey.

"Young Lucas is looking for a bit more ground in his races," Williams said.

"It was a good run. He's immature but with a bit of time, he may develop into a handy stayer. Dennis Beriman and the other owners have given me the opportunity to train Young Lucas and I'm grateful for their support."

Young Lucas has only had the four starts.

TRANSFERRED race meetings are not normally successful but in the case of Camperdown's Cup meeting being switched to Terang on Saturday it was a success, according to Karen Van Kempen who is the secretary of both clubs.

Van Kempen said it was disappointing the meeting had been transferred but she acknowledged the support of the Camperdown community, the Camperdown Turf Club and the track staff at Terang. It was a huge team effort by so many people," she said.

"The transfer was a shame. There was no other option the Camperdown track was unsafe for racing.

"Within a few minutes of the announcement that the meeting was to be transferred, I had so many people offering to help out. We ended up having 2500 patrons at Terang which was a marvellous result.

"We were only down 300 people on what we had budgeted for. The people who took up our marquee packages all tuned up. We just made the best of what could have been a bad day."

LINDSEY Smith took the training honours at Werribee on Sunday with a double. Smith, who has stables in Warrnambool and Perth led Epic Grey and Adelaide Ace back into the winners stall.

Epic Grey won a benchmark 70 while Adelaide Ace was successful in a benchmark 64.

"We put blinkers back on Epic Grey and they seem to do the trick," the multiple group one winning trainer said.

"We've always had a good opinion of Adelaide Ace. He was shin sore last time in work so we gave him a break. We may push forward to the Tasmanian Derby with him."

Promising apprentice jockey Will Price rode Epic Grey while John Allen was on board Adelaide Ace.

JOCKEY Georgina Cartwright was found guilty of a charge of careless riding after her winning ride on Kosowski at Terang.

Stewards found that Cartwright failed to make sufficient effort to prevent her mount from shifting out when not sufficiently clear of Heavenly Bodied which was steadied and lost its running.

She was suspended for eight meetings. Her suspension commences midnight January 26 and ends midnight February 1. Stewards took into account her good record and deemed the incident to be in the low range.