Cahill has long been one of the leading riders in country racing, winning multiple premierships during his career.

At the hearing he was granted a stay of proceedings and will ride tomorrow at Canberra, while there is also a chance he will have rides at the big Dubbo Cup meeting on Sunday with final acceptances out this morning.

Stewards on Tuesday completed an inquiry into his ride on a beaten favourite at Goulburn on June 16.

Cahill was disqualified over his running and handling of first starter Astronomer. He was found guilty of not allowing the Matthew Dale-trained Astronomer to race on its merits in a maiden race.

Stewards said there were six points of concern over his ride, including his failure to ride out his mount with an acceptable amount of vigour over the final 200m.

Astronomer, who started the $2.25 favourite, was beaten 1-1/2 lengths when third to No Cash For Teddy.

"In assessing (Cahill's) penalty the stewards were mindful of the seriousness of the breach and his clean record," a stewards' statement said.

Cahill was among five people charged last month with various offences in relation to the race.

Part-owner Guy Orbell was found guilty on three charges. He was found guilty of being a party to Cahill not allowing Astronomer to run on its merits, earning a 12-month ban.

Orbell pleaded guilty to laying Astronomer on the betting exchange Betfair as well as making a misleading declaration in a letter to stewards. He was hit with two further six-month disqualifications but they will be served concurrently with his first ban.

Dubbo bookmaker Ken Orbell, also a part-owner of Astronomer who was fielding at the Walgett meeting on the day of the Goulburn race, was fined $500 by stewards for failing to record a bet on Astronomer.

Cowra bookmaker Richard Knight was also found to have been involved and was fined a total of $2000 on three charges and was disqualified for six months, while a fourth person, Robert Grynberg - a part-owner of Astronomer - was fined a total of $3000 on two charges relating to the race.

Todd Smith, the Central Districts and Western chief racing steward based at Dubbo, said yesterday the charges against Mathew Cahill, in his mind, didn’t suggest there were widespread rorts in racing.

“I understand the last penalty for charges of this nature were about eight years ago,” Smith said.

“Stewards have not been put on notice that this or that is happening.

“Our day-to day duties at race meetings requires us to watch how races are run and to check betting trends. In more recent times figures from Betfair particularly are a fair guide.

“A prime example was a race recently at Bathurst when there were over three times the amount of money in the Betfair win pool opposed to the TAB.”

Smith said punters have a huge range of betting options, whether it be on course, on the TAB, or other corporate agencies. 

This includes Betfair, where a punter can lay a bet on a horse to lose a race.