SERIOUS PROTEST COMMENT FROM HENDO
There is also a big problem with the whip rules still settling down. Not sure I am a fan of the new rules anyway. A horse at the beautiful Sunny Coast had it’s dead heat taken off it for injudicious whipping, yet at Grafton earlier in the week a j*ckey was fined for a similar offence but the horse still maintained its finish position The difference being that the jo*key up here protested. Now she may be a genius, but it’s going to take a lot of convincing to get me to agree that she counted the amount of whip strikes the other j*ckey made on his horse while in the running.
So what happens now? Do the stewards have to watch a replay of each horse in the race individually to check whipping before declaring weight? Or do all riders have to put in a protest to get this looked at? I hope we don’t see the whole field being protested against by each jo*key in an attempt to gain a better position in the official result of the race.
Hendo
Yes it has happened, we have a precedent. Now joc*keys can ask to see the race video if they believe they have been beaten because a rival rider has had too many strokes!
And also, could we see protests being entered by tel*vision watchers or patrons at the course who count the number of whip strikes that the winner was given and if not upheld, could they then sue the stewards for potential loss of earnings on the second horse because the winner was not correctly disqualified? It’s going to be a long day for the stewards whichever way you look at it.
What a JOke!
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I was at the course when this happened and I was amused it was yet another way to a punter can lose a bet. Two points I would add is that it was a dead heat so the other jockey was entitled to protest that he was in fact disadvantaged because he didn’t break the existing rules. The second point is a rule is a rule. If blame is to be cast talk to the jockey who broke the rule, regardless how bad that rule is. I recently lost a huge bet on a favorite who was cut off 50 metres out from the finish by a riderless horse who’s jockey was dislodged at the start. It would have won and I was stunned there isn’t a rule in place that protected my bet in a situation like this. Just another way the system guts the punter.