Van der Merwe disqualified one year

I think the ride on Starman was worse, the horse was never encouraged to take up the running and let them come at him.
Like here, the horse was never in a competitive position and did well to grab the 2nd spot.
Whether it runs like that, held up with a sustained finish, I haven't checked.
But the form guide of the STC does show the splits I think.
As for the punishment, a tad too harsh for any jurisdiction, I've seen worse in HK .
If you want to see hotties get rolled on a regular basis, just follow the Harness racing in Oz and you'll be shocked how horses " gallop " , or are ODM at the start, or get buried on the pegs 2/3/4 back.

"When deciding on penalty, the Stewards took into account the serious nature of the charge, his record and his personal circumstances." Could it be that there were previous, similar charges?

It will also be interesting to see if their sanctions are consistently applied. We normally only hear of such incidents when its a SA jock or, a top jock that is involved.

Thor and Lionel you are entitled to your point of view i have no problem with that. As for hindsight when anyone acts in a race it is always after the race is run. As for jocks trying or being told not to try because some appy goes clear that in my opinion is nonsense. Lets just stick to the facts. Some say a bad ride and maybe they right others will say he beat everything bar 1 horse which In my opinion he wouldn't have beaten anyway. However I respect your view and I do agree that the punishment is harsh and as far as I know he has had no similar or any other problems with stipes in Singapore. I say again should he appeal I am certain that penalty will be reduced. Again just my opinion.

most ridicoulous suspension I have ever seen and imo this looks to be a personal issue between the stipes and the jock , which I guess doesnt only happen in sa horseracing :huh:

The only way that this type of punishment could be justified would be that the Stipes have more information?

Aware they have a solid tote structure so would imagine that betting irregularities would be unlikely and have no idea if the horse was money on or 33/1 .

It does look a fair punt next run with the way it ran on..

Look forward to the outcome of the appeal.

MissT you hold the same view as R Bloomberg and you are entitled to that however the rule is to give your mount every chance. Not on condition it can win or stop riding if you cannot beat the winner, this is clear. The rest for me is semantics and while arguable from R Bloomberg's point of view i do not see how this opinion benefits either racing, the owner or the punter.

My opinion is that the ride was over cautious and i don't believe the horse was given every chance, that is just my opinion. The horse broke well enough, moved up around the bend with a double handful and was still on a tight rein when the winners jock went for the stick. The jock moved in behind a horse when that could have been avoided and then only started riding vigorously in the last 150m. The horse went from 6th to 2nd in a matter of strides. So was the horse given every chance? No

Is the proposed sanction fair? I don't think so however a sanction of sorts is necessary.

I am sure that the authorities will have further evidence and they may even look at tote movements, at this point it is pure speculation from everyone.

It would be lovely if, like casino's, every person had to bet through a specific account so that authorities can monitor betting moves and from whom. It would be vital to include the Bookmakers information as well. Far too often horses drift off the boards in the last half hour and run off the boards without investigation in South Africa. Once the exotic bets are taken then those "not in the know" are knocked out without any recourse. Could this also be the case if a horse is being "given a run"? If there is a jockey in South Africa that has never done that I would like them to contact me and I will have the story published.

Anything can happen in horse racing.The jock might fall off or the horse decides to hang across the track,that's why even if you think you can't win you still have to try.
As for horses drifting and running nowhere here in SA,and this happens daily,we got to remember that in Singapore they racing for proper money not peanuts like here so the trainer doesn't have to try set up horses to get a better price for a certain race like they do here so often to try make ends meet.