Daily Racing Thread Saturday 7th. December 2019

7 jockeys get 10 days off over Crimbo as a result of the last race at Sandown where poor ol Houblon Des Obeaux suffered a heart attack. I'm sure there will be plenty who consider they should know the rules and recognise a yellow flag when they see one but it looked a pretty chaotic affair on the TV.

 

Its ridiculous to ban 7 jockeys who were in the heat of battle when even the commentator and his analyst didnt know what was going on. They should know the rule yes, but seriously, stewards need to get a grip.

 

What about the poor punters?sandown again, last time it was the winning post.

 

By putting the flags just before the Pond fence they compounded the confusion. The flags could have gone up in the middle of the Railway fences or earlier.
They'll probably say they don't have enough personnel to do that. I blame Theresa May.
,

 

Did punters get paid out on the winner and the places before the race was called void?

 

Nobody got payed out. It was an absolute shambles and a lot of punters were rightly angry.

 

the flag man down the railways was told to go on course then got told to get off track just before they got to him. I guess they tried to wait longer to make decision, but it was a farce and needs all bans overturning and stewards to apologise.

 

That is bad then if nobody got paid out. Wouldn't have been so bad if bookies had settled on the winner and places and lost out when it had been void

 

one of our lot had the winner, she stood to pick up over 200 but just got her money back.

The race could of been called a long way out but wasn't, i would say that every punter had no idea until
the line was crossed and then the enquiry was called, leaving a hell of a lot of punters wondering why.

This day and age, the amount of coverage, the race should of been halted but how do
you transmit to the jockeys? no jockey should be banned from that race but lessons
should be learned.

 

And it’s more of the same next Saturday. With racing again relegated to ITV4 and the same 3 progs, plus the news, getting to ply their trade on the main channel. Although the latter will, of course, be vital as it will relay further developments re Mr Johnston’s first post-election Cabinet. Demoting the racing though, next weekend, will I’m sure upset the old racing purists as this involves Cheltenham. I’m sure the latter bods were pretty blasé about Sandown and Aintree, last weekend, but they must be raging re Cheltenham’s demotion.

Meanwhile, I see those old jockeys were at it again on Saturday in the latter stages of the ‘lucky last’ at Sandown Park. It always staggers me that nothing is ever their fault. The race was voided the second the old flagman raised his yellow appendage so why the Stewards took 30 minutes to confirm this is anyone’s guess – or did they really need to as anyone who knows even a modicum about the sport must know that yellow flag once raised means void race. End of. No more. Personally, I’d have given them 10 years not 10 days. The subsidiary question for me though must be would the race have been abandoned had the ITV cameras not been on??? Serious question. I’m sure the command must have come from producers to end the race the second dear old Houblon went down as would TV bosses really want those green/black screens (and the obvious horror going on behind them) broadcast on our screens at quarter to four on a Saturday afternoon.

Finally, at the end of last week I made the point that McManus had 2 horses higher in the betting re the ’20 CGC than Champ. The performances of these 2 animals at the weekend must have made the latter’s participation in this race now far, far more likely – providing, of course, he looks good enough after his next run.

 

Here's a simple solution to the Sandown finishing post issue - cover up the post that is not in use.

For the "stopped race" fiasco why not change the flag and instead have two flags being waved across the front of the person with the flags so that it is blatantly obvious.

Perhaps these suggestions are too simplistic...………..