Gday Lee
Was trying to be sarcastic with comment.
Agree 100% with what you say.
Paul,
It is just that sort of statement seems to be indicative of the malaise that has spread through the Industry whereby that sort of conduct comes to be taken as a given.
You (not you personally, the collective you) need to be on the receiving end of this malpractice to fully understand that there may be outside influences other than driver error that has influenced these incidents, especially at big money races on out of town tracks.
Just watched the last race at Globe Derby. At the start, Spy Or Die clearly has legs taken away in a battle for the lead by the driver of Im Agent Eighty Six who is first past the post. One would assume this interference would not have occurred with relegation. Connections of Spy Or Die would surely become disillusioned with the lack of fairness of our racing rules.
We must be one of the only "racing sports"(gallops as well) where you can badly break the rules and keep your prize,and before i hear someone say that owners shouldn't be punished,i am an owner,breeder and buyer and i can tell you that if my driver knocked someone down and the stewards took the prize off me whatever placing that may be i would EXPECT to be relegated behind the horse i interfered with.This MUST change!
I have long been an advocate of relegation and whilst the two incidents at Bathurst may be cases where it could have been used, there are some points that may be being missed in the rush to condemn.
In the Tiara Final, David Kennedy was charged with careless driving, not as it appeared in the initial results report. That is just a follow on from the fact that careless, reckless and intimadatory are all listed in the one rule, Rule 168.
Disclaimer: My daughter works for the stable of Haka Shannon. In the Crown Final, Aristaeus actually choked down whilst being restrained after being checked. It was a huge concern for many of the finalists in the Crown about where Aristaeus drew in the final as it appeared in his heat that he was virtually unrestrainable. My initial thoughts about the incident were that both horses were contesting the same position and that Aristaeus continued to progress forward and out creating the contact. I have been told that Peter Bullock argued the same in the hearing, but when the Stewards were obviously of a different opinion, he gave it up as a forlorn argument and went with their decision.
But all that is irrelevant, both cases deserve relegation! Just that neither guilty party deserves further condemnation as it wasn't foul driving on the part of David Kennedy, just carelessness whilst pulling the earplugs and Aristaeus hit the deck because of its own behaviour, not because of being checked.
Hi Phil, What you have said about Aristaeus isn't quite right,Aristaeus or (Sammy as we call him) was in the 2 wide line already and following through nicely and if you see the video and stewards video quite controllable,the fact that Mr Bullock's cart got under his legs which WAS proven, caused him to fire up and choke down......but even after having said all that the stewards found Mr Bullock GUILTY so i go back to my original statement of,"how can you keep the prize whatever it may be if you have been found guity of doing something outside the rules".
Cheers
Ross
The only problem with introducing relegation here is the top heavy racing administrations of thoroughbred and harness authorities would have to introduce changes to racing rules that may require them to actually do something.
Under the current rules punters have NO protection from seeing their horse being taken out of contention by an offender that fills a place. A relegation clause WILL stop this type of activity occurring. You should not be able to profit from what can be only be termed as cheating.
A jockey/driver should be prosecuted heavily for foul play, not slapped over the wrist. Excessive disqualification periods and crushing fines should apply.
Owners of potential Black Type champions with stud careers beckoning will be better protected as their investments compete on the track without the fear of a crook/cowboy intentionally physically harming their horse.
Under our current rules IMO, the only person being protected here is the OFFENDER himself as he almost gets off scot free after destroying a race.
I am 100% in agreement that it is high time the relegation rule was introduced. If the authorities think they are protecting the punters interest, they are just plain wrong. If a horse were to be relegated, it would almost be the same as the status quo, in that if the offender caused interference to another runner it could expect to be lowered further down in the placings. Punters are already inured to this fact.