October
JanuaryIt's not right
On January 6 I had a straight-out bet on a horse called Foreign Exchange at Sandown. It ran second but I was paid as the winner, Tigidig Tigidig, weighed in light.
Naturally I was delighted at this windfall, but on reflection, I believe I should have been paid less deductions for the late withdrawal of Tigidig Tigidig. But no. The rule states that in such circumstances — with a tolerance of 500 grams — the horse is disqualified and all bets and prizemoney are lost.
Why is this rule retained? The only possible malpractice I can see being achieved by a deliberate tampering with the weight by connections would be that the presence of the horse in the field, in this case the favourite, could make the market for another horse. But surely that is stretching the imagination a little.
According to trainer Vincent Malady and jockey Jye McNeil, everything was carried out normally, and the trainer even checked the weights in the saddle were those that were present when he collected the saddle from McNeil in the weighing room after the weighing-out process.
The stewards then turned around and fined McNeil $1000. Why? What did McNeil do to justify a fine?
All that has been said is that there will be an investigation. Until that investigation establishes just what happened, and without any revealed evidence that McNeil was responsible, how come he gets fined?
I wonder what will happen if the likely reason is identified as an error or miscalculation by an official in the weighing room,
Will the stewards apologise to McNeil and the connections, discipline the offending official and refund McNeil’s grand?
Unlikely.
Brighton (Qld)