Gavin Smith gets fined 6k for crop abuse on Irontail. Weird penalty

Mr G D Smith FAIRVIEW RACECOURSE - RACE 5 - 17.05.2024 Rule 58.10.2 (Appendix E; Guideline M) - For as the rider of IRONTAIL, he misused his crop by striking the gelding more than twelve times (14) which was not warranted when considering the circumstances of the race. Fined R6000

 

Surprised this thread is not buzzing, with Peters fans highlighting how pathetic the NHRA are for getting this so wrong

Maybe the stipes had family in mind at the time

True Bob the whatsapp group was buzzing yesterday with more discrepancies re the TC02 fiasco.

Including audio reports to suggest the NHRA are not in control of this new implementation process 😑 

It is obvious from various threads that the NHA (and the Tote) does not really have clarity on their own rules and how to enforce them - this unfortunately results in affecting the ordinary punter in more ways than one - 

Firstly this issue of 'elevated TCO2 levels' lead to some horses being scratched and bets like the BP, PA, P6 and JP being affected - suddenly a hot pot favorite is no longer in a race - leading to another horse substituting a punter's selection - perhaps the Tote rules should change in that when a clear favorite is scratched before the off (including bolting, injury in the parade ring, etc) - the FIELD would apply; if another horse (bar the clear favorite), then the Tote Favorite is substituted. Obviously these rules need to be clarified and defined going forward so that punters are aware of the rules 

Secondly in case of a change of track (as happened yesterday at Fairview - and may happen in future, especially from Turf to Poly or vice versa), surely any exotic bet (BP, PA, P6 and JP) should be declared null and void - and either dividends up to then should be paid out, or refunded - not sure how the fiasco at Fairview was allowed to stand - maybe some disgruntled punter would feel seriously enough about it, to take the matter to court (although lots of obstacles probably will get in the way of that step) ?

As witnessed by the decline in Tote 'exotic' pools (and let's not delve into the touchy subject of 'Open Bets') - the 'man in the street' punter is losing interest in the 'Sport of Kings' - something should be done by someone to address this - otherwise we will end up with Pools declining even further   
 

.....obviously an error as he is not a jock....but stipes had it in for Mr Smith that day as they levied 2 other fines for wrong equipment and tardiness of horse presentation.....but mistakes like these..... lead to even bigger mistakes and then credibility is out the window.....time for changes before more costly legal exchanges......  

Racing keeps shooting itself in the foot 😒 
The only time we get to the front pages is for something negative 👎

Can you Imagine if Green With Envy gets scratched today and in all probability Main Defender in its next race 😢