October
OctoberMake stipes earn stripes
Why are umpires and referees in football under the control of a manager, yet in racing we have the silly situation where those employed to ensure that each race is run fairly have effectively hijacked our whole sport?
Racing can call the umpires or referees "stewards" if they like but surely the whole game would be much better controlled if it followed the lead of the football codes.
Racing could have three stewards at each meeting. They could decide amongst them who reads the weigh-in scales. If there is a protest, this could be conducted by them with the club president, secretary or manager presiding. Each steward would write his decision and the chair could then award the race to the horse favoured by the majority.
No trainers or owners would be allowed to be involved in proceedings. As it is now, these people are only extended a courtesy that is time-wasting for punters.
We saw two video refs banned from duties for the rest of the season in the NRL last month for two completely wrong decisions. The same sanction should apply to racing stewards when they get it wrong.
This is easily achieved if stewards are members of a pool, with the best through the year officiating on the biggest days.
Because stewards are empowered as dictators, they have no real need to excel, as they would if they operated in a pool where the cream could rise. The stewards manager could suspend a steward for a while if performance was below par.
Any argument that racing is different because it involves betting is futile now, as football games often carry more gambling dollars than horse races. Let’s get the stewards back where they belong — seen and not heard.
Bendigo (Vic)