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It took the port Arthur tragedy to bring in gun laws, maybe it takes a tragedy of this magnitude to bring in the relegation rule.
Greg Hayes had the right intention on In The Gig, redneck Radley belittled Greg and stopped a common-sense push for a common-sense rule.
Owners need more protection, as for the punters - every race has a winner.
Call me Nostradamus.*
For years I've been banging on about the weak as water efforts of successive groups of Stewards with regard to intereference and their INEXPLICABLE reluctance to enforce the relegation rule.Well now....Special Agent Nelson Van Alden and Co have reaped that*which they have sown.*It was only a matter of time before a horse's career or life was ended not to mention that of a driver.*I hope the connections of I'm Victorious go to Civil Court and that they sue the arse off everyone who has played a part in this...first & second defendants alike.*If that is what it takes to finally get this blight on the Industry sorted then sobeit.*What happened yesterday has been on the cards for a long time now and it was an abject disgrace.
Triple . It's Mark . All I can say is "HEAR HEAR" . Can't add anything to that . A retired steward told me when I was doing my fellowship training , to gain my license , that he was waiting for the day that someone sued for compensation over a driving offence .
We see many cases of interference that are accidental, however from the video, this one is purely incompetent driving. If the quote 'that I pulled the wrong rein' is substantiated then further investigation into the incident is surely warranted. This was the sports premier race, tarnished by a driver injuring a grand circuit horse when driving a beaten horse. The penalty for this incident does not reflect the incompetence of the driver. Surely this matter should come under further investigation about the continued licencing and like the Gallops should be referred to a panel of 'peers' for review.
This disrespect of other drivers and horses is not what this sport is about.
The facts are the one the week before and the impotent 18 days penalty showed stewards are no serious. Lucky LRT did not end up broken down as well. Sheer arrogance.
Another perspective
Dreadful incident and as a horse lover first and a harness participant second, my thoughts and best wishes to a mighty horse and his dedicated connections, I hope everything that can assit you all with his recovery happens at godspeed.
Now the alternative perspective.
I wonder if the damage sustained to this wonderful horse would be as devastating if it was a more conventional sulky rather than one of these "heavy as buggery, with sharp edges everywhere" US style carts.
I dont know how many of you have any experience with sulkies but I can tell you they are VERY HEAVY compared to the stainless tube sulkies they have beaten in the fashion stakes.
Weight makes an awful big difference during incidents like this one, if a light weight driver had caused that type of interference in a typical Stainless sulky the gig would have lifted up on impact, possibly tipping the offending driver out, but also, more importantly by tipping up there would have been some "give" as in the sulky lifting and lessening the blow to the horse's legs.
How do I know this? When I started driving in races a million years ago I was seventeen years old and weighed about 55 kilos.....I got tipped out almost every time there was a clash between my cart and anyone else, be that the horse or the other person's cart. As I matured and filled out a bit ( some would say too much) I get tipped out less and less.
Some people are gunna think I'm joking about this but I can assure you all I am not, there are a number of aspects about these sulkies that I have concerns about, but the weight and the angles of the wheel stays are not kind to horses when this type of interference happens IMO.
cheers,
Dan
Yes the bloke concerned resigned to take up a position with another top trainer to learn other different ways to work horse's, he is only young and want's to learn the game from as many capable trainer's as he can, and that is what he told me, nothing about ego's mentioned.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pena
Further to that Dan in a race at Dubbo last year in a fall the bullet tip went into the forehead of a horse and had to be put down the hole was the size of a 50 cent piece.
Great point Dan. (2nd one)Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
Geez Greg,Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg Hando
I had no idea that had happened anywhere, but it is ( the VERY hard and pointy shaft ends) another of the concerns I have about these sulkies, and please don't anyone take this the wrong way, I wonder about the approval processes and procedures for new products and how adequate and/or appropriate they are, I AM NOT having a "benefit of hindsight" shot at anyone, just thinking sometimes incidents like yesterdays' can be the catalyst for re-inspection of how we do things.
Def reckon there should be further investigatio n into sulky design and how it impacts outcomes in racing incidents..
Cheers,
Dan