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Brighton, 5 August 2010
The Stewards enquired into an incident at the Wilson Road crossing, involving VERTUEUX (FR), ridden by AMY SCOTT, which was eventually pulled up. They interviewed the jockey and Mr Arkell, the Clerk of the Course. The jockey stated that her horse tripped on the edge of the matting, which caused it to stumble badly and the saddle to slip. The Clerk of the Course stated that he sent his head groundsman to the crossing to inspect the mat and re-secure where appropriate. There were no problems in the following race.
I take it the Stewards took appropriate disciplinary action and either fined or suspended someone.
If the stewards accepted the jockey’s explanation then this means that if anyone was to blame then it was the person who secures the mat.
Now I’m no expert on this, but I’m pretty sure the stewards only deal with racehorse/jockey/trainer related incidents and they have no power whatsoever to take any disciplinary action against the Clerk of the Course, the Groundsman or whoever.
I could be wrong though.
Yes, I appreciate that One Eye and I was only being cheeky. But it does seem to have been a situation where whoever is responsible for Health and Safety issues has clearly not done a proper risk assessment. Even though this could have had serious consequences for both horse and jockey, no doubt the matter will be swept under the carpet or, as in this case, under the matting.
Completely agree Ken – apologies for missing the point of your thread (the health and safety aspect) as I thought you were directly asking have the stewards took any action.
It’s not good is it? I went to Redcar races recently and came out early; and to get out you have to walk over the mat the crosses the racetrack. The edges of the mat on that occasion were at least two inches higher than the turf. I thought nothing of it at the time, but now that a horse has ‘stumbled’ under similar circumstances it certainly raises cause for concern.
Pretty sure something nearly took a purler when losing their footing on a mat over a road crossing at Ludlow earlier in the year – certainly Richard Lee saw fit to mention it when interviewed on RUK there the same day.
Wonder if digging up the roads at such intersections and filling them in with something suitable for both cars and horses would not be a safer option, but what to use?
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
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