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Striking Article appeared to going OK.
Can someone with a better eye than me spot something?After they came out the back straight the first time SA started to hang, and got noticeably worse drifting down his fences – jockey even puts his whip into his left hand to try and correct him after the fence where he pulled up. Horses hanging is a sure indication of discomfort.
PB must have felt the action change, but the horse didn’t look too sore – that’s indicative in itself?The most damning video is that of the Wetherby race. Graham Wylie was certainly there and would have witnessed a horse he claims he knew had a de-nerved leg finish very badly lame. He would also have been aware that the fact the horse appeared to improve was an illusion for that reason, and he would have been reminded of the dangers of running an unsound horse in a race where 2 other horses had to be destroyed and a third was pulled up lame.
It’s also interesting (if slightly ghoulish) to see the reaction of Divex’ connections after that horse had been put down. Micky Hammond and Fearghal Davis return in conversation, Hammond looking relaxed with hands in pockets, while the poor horse’s lass is clearly shell-shocked alongside. The only interaction between trainer and groom is when Hammond absentmindedly thrusts the bridle at her. At no point does he ever seem to offer her any comfort, which looks poor.
I think I’ve got this all wrong, because I thought the horse had this operation after he was pulled up lame in his previous race. Some strange things have happened to Howard Johnson over the years. Wasn’t there a fire at his stables as well as the robbery. And I think he was attacked in a pub by a member of his family a few years back, as well. If it was a claiming race, had the horse won might he have been bought by someone and then would have been vetted? Or would they have just bought him back? Rather feel that Graham Wylie is just rather naive.All terribly sad, because he seemed such a genuine horse.
All the goings on related to this stable. They are always in the press for some reason or another. I dont think we know the half of it.
Very sad for Striking Article – a lovely looking horse who won a couple races for me when the stable had a proper jockey in O’Regan.
Martin
If it was a claiming race, had the horse won might he have been bought by someone and then would have been vetted? Or would they have just bought him back?
I don’t think there was a buying back option had he won the race, Moe – it’s likelier everything in the race would have been available for claiming at the advertised price up until so many minutes before the off.
That in itself makes the entering of poor Striking Article in a claimer even more invidious in the first place, as to me at least it reads as if connections were essentially trying to pass on the gelding to any interested party knowing full well by that stage that he was damaged goods.
Why wasn’t it more glaring at the time that something may have been afoot? There are at least two reasons I can think of.
Firstly, connections
could
if pressed have argued – and maybe did argue at the time, I don’t know either way – that Striking Article had been entered in this non-handicap having been shot up from an OR of 130 to 142 for winning the Bobby Renton (the Wetherby race Rory alluded to), a mark they thought he had absolutely no hopes of defying. A slightly questionable call, given Striking Article registered a Racing Post Rating of 143 for that effort, but hardly the most far-fetched.
Secondly, whilst claiming hurdles are mostly poorly-remunerated and seldom attract animals coveting 130s+ ratings, what few claiming chases were reintroduced to the racing calendar two to three years ago have tended to be class 3 or 4 affairs and can attract the odd decent type.
The win pot for the Musselburgh claimer that day, £5776.80, was over £3,500 less than that for winning the Bobby Renton, but over twice that for finishing second in the Wetherby event. Connections
could
, therefore, again if pressed, have argued a reasonably cogent case that hoovering up near-£6,000 prizes off better terms than in handicaps represented a better way for Striking Article to earn his keep thereafter (for as long as nobody stumped up the claiming price) .
And that wouldn’t have been an outrageous claim (no pun intended) in the context of what else has gone on in claiming chases elswhere since their resurrection. Note that Philip Hobbs’s Cousin Nicky reaped £20,000 from three wins and a second in four claiming chase appearances between January 2008 and April 2009, but almost certainly less than that in numerous handicap defeats both during and after the same period.
I haven’t got as far yet as checking whether Howard Johnson has ever entered anything else in a claiming chase (both Musselburgh and Ayr maintain examples of the species) to be able to assert whether known patronage of them could have layered another smokescreen in addition to the above; but without knowing the full ins and outs of the incident, it already certainly reads to me like a deal of thought went into entering Striking Article in what proved his final race.
Needless to say, he deserved better.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
He ran Marleybow in a Claiming Chase at the Ayr Scottish National meeting on 16th April 2010 Jeremy – the horse was last of 4 finishers, of which he was the lowest rated and has since moved (probably claimed that day) to Richard Lee.
GC,
Johnson had run one horse in the same claiming chase in each of it’s previous two runnings in 2008 and 2009, Galero and Bestofthebrownies respectively.
There’s no record of the race existing prior to 2008.
He also ran one in a claiming chase at Ayr in 2010.
AP
Noted with thanks, gentlemen. Does read as if Striking Article’s run in the Musselburgh contest represented normal enough-looking behaviour for Mr Johnson re: claiming chases not to raise any further eyebrows in and of itself – fair to say?
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Seems accurate enough to me – he’s not averse to running one in those colours in a claiming chase. Nor a decent looking horse as evidenced by Bestofthebrownies run in one.
I think the book will be thrown at him regarding the removing nerves from a Horse. Unbelievably great ammo for the Horse Welfare Brigade who have a great Example to use now
I work in Equine Welfare. However, I’m a huge supporter of racing, it’s been a major part of my life for years, and I fight against the bias perpetrated by Animal Aid and the likes.
The horse welfare aspect of this is not what has incensed me, it’s the potential to kill a jockey.
If a horse has had a tendon injury and returned to racing, it’s a given that the leg is far less likely to withstand a lot more racing, hence why trainers are more careful about ground etc. If the tendon (or other soft tissue injury) goes mid race, or at home, the horse feels the pain, and will alter his action to save putting more pressure on the leg.
The rider/jockey will then be aware of the immediate change when the pain kicks in and will pull up.
When the tendon starts to go at the site of the old injury in the case of a denerved horse, the horse will likely feel something, but not the same as an undoctored horse. So with what I said earlier, you have the potential scenario for a horse continuing to gallop on a leg that no longer functions, with the jockey unable to do anything to stop it. The potential for it to go easily fatally wrong for the rider is huge. Never mind the other horses/jockeys in the race, the crowds behind the rails etc.This is akin to potential manslaughter, make no mistake. And for that he should be stopped now. I really don’t think I’ve ever been so horrified in my life at JHJ’s cavalier attitude to safety.
To a lesser level, however, is it not also dangerous to run horses on bute, as they do in America? And, if bute is banned in this country, how can Mr Johnson say they didn’t know they were doing anything wrong by operating on the horse?
Yes and no, bute is like an aspirin (it’s also banned), so only a mild painkiller, whereas denerving is a permanent effect akin to a local anaesthetic.
Bute would only ease a bit of bruising, it would never mask something as serious as a major stay-apparatus such as a tendon breakdown.
By instigating and approving the operation, JHJ knew exactly what he was doing. It is a welfare issue for the horse for sure, but that’s not as serious as the threat to life.
ETA, sorry moehat, I didn’t know they were allowed to run on bute in the US, I thought it was just Lasix……
Perhaps I’m wrong; I’m sure it used to be legal, but may not be legal in some states now.
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The more I read on here about theis affair the worse it gets.
Lucky for him we/you are not the judge and jury or he’d never step on a racecoiurse again. I just hope if he is guilty off all charges some fancy lawyer doesn’t wriiigle him out of it.
Reading your post Jing Crivens it is perhaps a bit darmatic but nevertheless true and although people tend to believe "it will never happen" because it’s unlikely don’t mean it can’t happen.
Jockey’s are very brave people and would probaly ride the horse anyway and tell anyone who was worried about it not to be silly they’ll be fine but that doesn’t make it right.
If by some remote chance things were to go wrong, a jockey was killed and a trainer charged God knows the damage it would do to the sport. It would hit the front page of every newspaper in the country and go on for months and make the Keren Fallon affair look like a advertisment for racing.
If guilty, they have just got to make an example of this man and put a stern warning out to every trainer in the country this sort of thing is just not on.
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