pirates Wrote:
> to put this issue to bed COULD PERHAPS HIBS OR
> SCOTIA contact the nhra and get the COMPLETE
> RULING regarding this incident including the one
> that rob faux refers to and in fact another that
> an attorney informed me last night could have been
> used to overide this shocking outcome..perhaps
> dave thistleton can get it all for us and let us
> have more than one sided opinions like we heard
> last nite on the gold circle sponsored winning
> ways and his column in the newspaper.....and i ask
> again was any gold circle board member or director
> present on sunday at clairwood?
Article today:
David Thiselton
Gold Circle and Phumelela, in an act of goodwill after the controversy surrounding race 6 at Clairwood on Sunday, have carried over the gross win pool from the race onto the Easter Handicap at Clairwood on March 31.
“In terms of their Totalisator licenses, the Racing Operators are bound by the rules of the National Horseracing Authorities and are obliged to pay dividends based on the official “all clear” result as declared by the NHA,” said a Gold Circle press release yesterday.
A stipulation added to Rule 61.5.10.1, that many feared would “come and bite us one day”, was fundamental to Sunday’s fiasco.
However, there was more to it than that, and the age and state of the starting stalls as well as the starter and the procedures at the start have also been put under scrutiny.
Racecourse security also came into question, as besides the ugly scenes outside the weighing room, a dog appeared on the course during this race, of all races, and ran behind the horses.
My Sanctuary, the odds-on favourite at the centre of it all, gave notice that this wasn’t going to be her day when suddenly veering sideways and dumping jockey Alec Forbes shortly before loading had begun.
She was then fractious in the pens, rearing, before sitting down on her haunches.
The veterinarian at the start had her backed out and trotted around before declaring her fit to race.
Many have questioned whether she should not have been scratched anyway as she appeared to have hit her head.
The veterinarian did notice some hair missing on the nasal bone, but didn’t consider it significant.
Furthermore, there is no doubt that My Sanctuary hit the gate very hard later on when it didn’t open and that was likely the chief cause of the head injury diagnosed after the race.
A further question was whether, due to the delay, all of the horses should not have been backed out and the starting stalls re-tested.
The starter has also come under criticism for missing the gate opening slowly and an inquiry will be held.
One of his defence points is likely to be that television gives a front on view, while the starter has a side on view.
The angle he stands at apparently becomes even smaller in small fields at Clairwood as the stalls are placed in the centre and the cable from his rostrum has further to reach.
Recently there have been a couple of incidents where the stipendiary stewards have overruled the starter after a “no start” had been declared.
In both cases the majority of jockeys did not hear the false start siren and the stipendiaries used their discretion in declaring all horses runners, as opposed to making the race null and void.
The question has been raised why they could not have done the opposite in this case, especially in light of Forbes and at least one other jockey having hesitated momentarily after initially believing it to have been a false start.
The answer is that there is no provision made to overrule in the case where a starter did not declare a “no start”.
Furthermore, the discretionary power that the stipendiaries believed they had in the two aforementioned cases arose from an ambiguity in the wording of rule 61.5.11 and the discretionary clause has since been removed.
My Sanctuary’s eventual third-place finish qualified her for the PA and also the Pick 6, as the first and second horses were both first-timers.
However, if she had been declared a non-runner, she would have still qualified for those two bets as the second favourite won the race.
Furthermore, backers who had her in wins, places and in the Jackpot were losers with the result standing.
In 2009 the provision was added to rule 61.5.10.1, which deals with “no starts” through faulty starting stalls or other causes, and states that a horse can only be declared a non-runner if it did not finish in the first four.
The stipendiary stewards were bound by this law and could not declare the horse a non-runner, much to the dismay and subsequent anger of punters, who then forced the abandonment of the meeting.
The operators were involved in the lengthy discussions and debate when the 2009 provision was added.
The provision was made chiefly to protect owners and breeders, who would, for example, be denied a sizeable cheque and black type if a horse was declared a non-runner after finishing placed in a big race.
Furthermore, there was a case in Johannesburg, in which a tote favourite had finished third, but was then declared a non-runner, knocking many punters out of the PA, as the new favourite had finished last..
In another recent case an owner had a big bet on his winning horse and was subsequently subjected to a deduction in the region of 80% because the odds-on favourite, which had been impeded at the start, had faded late into fifth place.
There have been suggestions that two separate results could be declared, a punter friendly one and an owner friendly one, but this would cause much confusion in the declaration of the result.
Rob de Kock, the CEO of the National Horseracing Authority, after emphasising the binding nature of the law, said that he had felt sorry for the punters.
He said that the law would be looked at again, but added that it appeared impossible to create one that would be able to provide an absolutely certain outcome and still please all interested parties in every circumstance.
Robert Bloomberg, a well known owner, racing analyst and lawyer, believes a discretionary clause should be put into the rule.
“The discretionary clause must involve the operator, stipendiary stewards and National Horseracing Authority (NHA) preferably through the Racing Control Executive Dave McGillivray,” said Bloomberg.
If Bloomberg’s suggestion can prevent a repeat of the ugly scenes at Clairwood on Sunday it should be seriously considered.
