Dear Editor,
As an ardent horse racing fan I was left with a bitter taste at the stewards’ decision not to reverse the placings of the first two runners in race two of Saturday’s programme. Was this decision made purely on horse racing terms?
In this race, horse number four drifted out from the inside of the track, bounced and carried horse number nine to almost the outside of the track. It was clear that every time the jockey on horse nine tried to ride out his mount he was hampered. Despite this, the horse finished second by a head. When the infringement was shown on the monitors most of the punters from young to old were certain that it was bad enough to reverse the placings.
After about 20 minutes, punters were left fuming at the announcement that the objection was overruled. All on the stands were left displeased at the decision and to compound the problem, the stewards didn’t have the decency to brief punters as is the norm.
The next day I read that the stewards were not sufficiently assured that the contact between the horses altered the results and allowed the results to stand. This has to be the joke of the century, one horse hampered another for about 100m and won by a head (not five or ten lengths) and they weren’t sufficiently assured. Then why was the jockey charged? The stewards at the Arima Race Club (ARC) should try plying their trade at the comedy festival where they stand to make a lot more money.
It is high time that the Arima Race Club (ARC) start looking after the interest of punters because if decisions like these are allowed to continue, it will be only a matter of time before punters get discourged and the entire industry will fall flat.
A disenchanted horseman