Daily Racing Thread Saturday 24th. April 2021

Goodness me. The number of times I have gone with Greaneteen. Didn't expect that. Bryony has only ridden him 3 times and won every time. Brilliant ride

 

That’s why i love the jumps, the horse that finished 3rd would of won it, but the horse that was 2nd will be declared the winner. Unlucky if you backed Kitty

 

Potterman 1st. Now I'm going to fight with the bookies.

 

Missed penalty then you go up the other end and score!

 

The rules of racing sometimes beggar belief. Last week a jockey is banned for riding to orders when the trainer gets off scot free and then today a horse that is clearly third best in the race is awarded a victory. Not sure how things like that can be improved but justice certainly not done again today.

 

Dreamloper refused to settle, she raced with her head shaking from side to side for way too long. Despite this she still seemed to be going best but was then short of room. She finished reasonably well for little actual effort from the jockey who seemed to be mentally asleep and wasn't beaten far in 4th. The Racing Post race comments said:-

Held up in midfield, going easily but waiting for room over 2f out, in the clear and ran on over 1f out, kept on well inside final furlong, never dangerous, eyecatcher (jockey said filly ran too free in the early stages of the race)

Funny how Rab Havlin gets 21 days and others who looked to be blatantly leaving a horse for another day get off scot free. I felt she could have won that with a better ride. Hey ho. Likely she'll be short as an "Unlucky loser" next time.

Well done to anyone who had winners today.

 

It was inevitable that the big race controversy was going to end up with the wrong result and the runner-up being awarded a race that it would not have won.

It seemed quite clear in real time that the first past the post Enrilo hung to the left and interfered with Kitty’s Light, who would have won the race with an unmolested run as it had already caught the runner-up and would have passed the winner. It also seemed quite clear that the second past the post would, therefore, only have finished third.

The rules state that the horse causing the interference (the first past the post) had to be placed ‘behind’ the other horse. So Potterman was awarded a race that he had no right to win, whilst the horse that should have won the race only got ‘promoted’ to second.

Is there some way that the rule can be changed so that the horse that was victim of interference is simply placed in front of the horse causing the interference? This would then have had the result reading 1. Kitty’s Light, 2. Enrilo, 3. Potterman. I guess the problem with this is it then would require the stewards to decide which horses to place in front of which horses in a situation where more than two horses were involved in an incident. And how would such a rule be feasible if the interference had occurred a long way before the finish, for example two fences from home?

 

With a little help from the stewards Potterman won. SP 12/1.

 

According to Rule 12 of the current BHA Rules Of Racing, a “Qualified Person” may make an Objection to the Stewards or to the BHA if there was “no reasonable opportunity” to make it to the Stewards (e.g. they were not present).

The definition of a “Qualified Person” is the owner, the jockey, the trainer or any appointed representative. The Objection must be notified to both the Stewards and the Clerk Of The Scales (the weighed in signal cannot be given until the Stewards have decided whether to hold an Enquiry if they deem the Objection valid).

It is my recollection that in the past it was often the owner that would raise the Objection and the jockey and trainer would give evidence before the Stewards.

So the short answer is yes, it is still possible to raise an Objection. I just expect that with all the camera footage these days, the Stewards are more likely to start an Enquiry without the need for an Objection.

 

I thought Altior had set a cracking pace yesterday, and so it seems. The time was fast by 3.70s. No other races of the same distance to compare with but, if their times relative to standard are any indication of the going, Greaneteen must finally be realising the potential that Timeform once recognised with a big P and, at 7yo, can now be considered a serious contender for next year's Champion Chase. I'm off to look at what odds are on offer