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Methinks that fav Little Curtsey should not have been allowed to run this evening.
Horse crashes through rails, decants jockey and runs loose for several minutes.Gets caught but further spooked by flag on a car. After checkover is allowed to run.
Replay on link below
Indeed it was a joke that it was allowed to run. However, it was a very rare incident and most horses who bolt loose before the start are withdrawn out of courtesy. Nevertheless, it’s a courtesy that should be regulated in the future.
(i.e;- a horse that gallops loose for any more than a furlong is to be immediately withdrawn)
As for racing’s image, there won’t even be a dent. It’s not something that will get any media coverage outside of racing. Even within racing, the incident will have gained the attention of only the obsessive purists and a few people who try not to let racing distract them from the FOBTs.
- Total Posts 17716
Indeed it was a joke that it was allowed to run. However, it was a very rare incident and most horses who bolt loose before the start are withdrawn out of courtesy. Nevertheless, it’s a courtesy that should be regulated in the future.
(i.e;- a horse that gallops loose for any more than a furlong is to be immediately withdrawn)
As for racing’s image, there won’t even be a dent. It’s not something that will get any media coverage outside of racing. Even within racing, the incident will have gained the attention of only the obsessive purists and a few people who try not to let racing distract them from the FOBTs.
Agreed it doesn’t matter a jot, as the public won’t find out about it.
But making new "rules" about it would (as usual) land the BHA in more hot water. A mature sprinter that gallops for a furlong isn’t the same thing as a 2yo doing it, or a 9yo hurdler.
As any lawyer will tell you, extreme cases make bad law. And this was an extreme case. Much better to give the Stewards on site the flexibility to do what they deem best.
I agree with what Pinza says regarding Stewards discretion, to a certain extent, but there should also be some automatic triggers for a withdrawal as well.
Ones that immediately spring to mind are if a horse physically crashes through the railings – injury risk or if a horse runs a complete circuit of the course. In those cases withdrawal should be automatic.
A horse does not even have to lose his rider either – at Haydock in March 2010 Nevertika ran away with his rider, who lost his irons in the process, on the way to post, twice playing pinball with the running-rail and proceeded to run one and a half circuits of the course before eventually being pulled up. It did look as though he was going to be withdrawn as he headed back to the parade ring but his trainer told the jockey to make his way to the start. He was still allowed to run in the race.
Needless to say he played no active part in the race and was pulled up. He was the well backed favourite and those who backed him had no chance of getting a decent run for their money. That should have been a cast iron case of a horse not being allowed to compete.
Every case is different so best leave it to them on site. Can’t blame connections for running after getting the okay, owners pay a fortune to have horses in training for little return and it costs a lot of money to transport a horse to the races.
Racing’s not just run for the benefit of punters and in any case 4/1 was freely available to lay after the incident so it wasn’t the foregone conclusion some would have you believe that the horse would run badly after. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.Didn’t see the incident,commenter meantioned it after the race.
Sounds nasty, and for safety reasons should have been automatically withdrawn. I know some punters won’t like that with rule 4 being declared but those that backed the horse also won’t have liked not having a fair chance of winning.However away from the betting side of the issue, there is the welfare of the horse itself.
Here is the race analysis from the racing post.
How do we know that the bleeding problem wasn’t connected to what happened earlier, and even if it wasn’t doesn’t look good.
I’m really dredging my memory banks but I remember a horse winning at Cheltenham (possibly Green Willow) that threw his rider and did virtually a circuit of Prestbury Park before taking part and winning.
I’m really dredging my memory banks but I remember a horse winning at Cheltenham (possibly Green Willow) that threw his rider and did virtually a circuit of Prestbury Park before taking part and winning.
Years ago horses who lost their riders in the race could be remounted and carry on. However times change and so do rules. For the welfare of the horse any jockey cannot now remount.
This will mean of course a race where none finish but the welfare of the horse must come first.
Just another example of Racing not knowing what it wants, and many within not giving a toss.
How that horse was allowed to ‘run’ is bewildering.
Agreed it doesn’t matter a jot, as the public won’t find out about it.
What the public doesn’t know, doesn’t hurt, eh?
Jesus christ.
Agreed it doesn’t matter a jot, as the public won’t find out about it.
What the public doesn’t know, doesn’t hurt, eh?
Jesus christ.
Correctamundo.
It would be lovely if horse racing was a sport ran by idealists for idealists but the truth is that it’s one of Britain’s most fundamentally flawed pastimes.
The public both interested in the sport and otherwise are fully aware of this. Those interested in the sport rarely let the innumerable outrages put them off. Conversely, those not interested in the sport in the first place aren’t suddenly going to become hooked if every jockey, owner and trainer was bugged 24/7 and the races were ran on marshmallow.
Personally, I don’t gamble because I believe that unless one has perfect knowledge, information and discipline then it’s a mugs game in the long run. I also believe that the whip is an unnecessary, violent instrument of abuse. But that doesn’t stop me from being fascinated by the quandary of whether the 7lb penalty will be too much for Market Maker in today’s juvenile hurdle at Market Rasen or if the flatter track, right handed turns will enable him to find that 7lb (I don’t think it will btw).
I think for every fan of the sport, the star of pure conscience burns out eventually but as in life, TS
Bombina, 2009 maiden debut for Chapple-Hyam. Done half a circuit before could be caught, won comfortably.
As these incidents are few it’s not possible to tell how much the winning chance is hindered and under which circumstances it is, we can only speculate. If someone wants to give you double the price of a runner for having a warm up great!
Though in the incident mentioned on this thread, if a runner is crashing through obstacles and has potentially caused itself harm it does become a welfare issue and should be withdrawn in my opinion.
Every case is different so best leave it to them on site. Can’t blame connections for running after getting the okay, owners pay a fortune to have horses in training for little return and it costs a lot of money to transport a horse to the races.
Racing’s not just run for the benefit of punters and in any case 4/1 was freely available to lay after the incident so it wasn’t the foregone conclusion some would have you believe that the horse would run badly after. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.I understand that the trainer was absent (as is usual for a Kempton evening meeting) but that his rep was in touch. I can also understand the costs of getting the horse to the track.My view was that on a horse welfare/ imaage of racing slant, the horse should have been WD, notwithstanding that the vet checked it over physically.
Isn’t there a rule that horses that play up in the stalls automatically get WD? This was worse.
As regards punters, notwithstanding the chance to get to a PC and hit the lay button, had I had a bet to win in the morning I’d have wanted my money back.
Hindsight is a great thing but I’d have had the same view even if this horse had won.- Total Posts 17716
It would be lovely if horse racing was a sport ran by idealists for idealists but the truth is that it’s one of Britain’s most fundamentally flawed pastimes.
"Fundamentally flawed" … "innumerable outrages" … "mugs game" … "abuse" …
and yet you write so very vividly (and convincingly!) of your own consuming interest in the Sport.
So why such negativity? Don’t you think that some of the contradictions and ambiguities between profit motive and the pure beauty of the thing add to the Sport’s appeal? I believe I see where your idealism comes from, but isn’t the glorious uncertainty and unpredictability of it all part of the attraction? Wouldn’t an over-regulated world of Racing, with rules for every eventuality, be insufferably dull?
Personally I must say that I do not want a sanitized sport run by idealists or purists. I want a sport run by flawed but competent human beings, with mixed motives. And I celebrate the sheer unpredictability of it all.
Personally I must say that I do not want a sanitized sport run by idealists or purists. I want a sport run by flawed but competent human beings, with mixed motives. And I celebrate the sheer unpredictability of it all.
Unpredictability is one thing; running a horse who has gone through the rails and even snapped them, is another.
I agree with Paul, stewards need to judge every possible withdrawl seperately. If a horse trots or canters loose should not be a problem. However, if he gallops for a length of time or breaks the rails while loose… Then for safety sake as well as everyone concerned (punters, owners and trainers) it should be withdrawn by the stewards. It seems to me connections are sometimes angry with jockeys for falling off, so think "you xxxxxxx fell off, you earn your xxxxxxx money and ride the thing"! Something that is bad for all.
Value Is Everything
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