George Gorman's hopes of a breakthrough victory under Rules at Newbury were quickly dashed after the 17-year-old rider made an embarrassing error approaching the final fence of the Betfair Lambourn Open Day 6th April Hunters' Chase. Gorman, a student from Horsham in West Sussex, was pushing Merry Vic clear from the field approaching the final fence but mistook the obstacle for the water jump, which is a furlong further down the Berkshire track and just before the winning post. Gorman went around the fence and continued to push away on Merry Vic (11-4), who is trained by his mother Carolyn, and it was only when he exited the track that his joy ebbed away. The youngster has ridden half a dozen winners on the southern point-to-point circuit but this was only his second mount under Rules. He was given a 14-day ban (dates to be notified) by the stewards. "I knew you had to avoid the water jump, and I thought the last fence was the water jump. It's as simple as that," said Gorman. "The first I knew something was wrong was when I heard my mother shouting at me." .............I wonder what she was shouting..........no tea for you my boy?!?!?
I felt the 14 day ban was a joke, I think they should start introducing hefty fines for this sort of nosense. I'd have given him a 6 month ban, and a fine equal to the value of the race. It's hard enough picking winners, without idiots who don't even know the course. It's Newbury ffs, any idiot should know how many fences there are in the home straight. It's just not acceptable
I agree, Newbury is one of the easily recognisable tracks and anyone that rides there ought to know better, that said he was a 17 year old brought up through the PTP ranks, do you want to issue harsher sentences and put these youngsters off ever entering the game professionally ? Trouble is, any race run under rules carries the potential for betting, and with that comes the risk of big losses/gains forpunters. Tony Ansell (Pro Gambler) put this up on twitter this morning, suffice to say he was less than impressed. Paddy Power returning stakes on Merry Vic
The kids 17 - you're potentially talking about putting him in some serious debt at that age. I think that would be very harsh for what seems an honest mistake. Long bans are sensible, they should act as a deterrent, but fining him £X,000 seems like the kind of deterrent which results in no young jockeys whatsoever.
Trouble is Danish whenever something like this happens it raises doubts on the jocks integrity, only since the inception of exchanges have these matters become big issues and you can bet your life that the Betfair investigators are working overtime tonight....
Anyone seriously punting on amateurs and conditionals have to realise that they are taking a chance. They will make mistakes, even the pro's do at times but if you bet in these races it's the risk you run!
Oddy - they tried that when Voler la Vadette was backable at 35/1 or whatever she was when jumping the last 2 lengths clear, scores of legal threats, Betfair backtracked and paid out. There'll be thieves who were clicking buttons just as the horse missed the last and made fortunes....
Stick....Your talking rubbish, being an amateur does not in any way shape or form excuse him for not knowing the course. If he was in to short at a fence, or he was completely out of rhythm with the horse, when riding a finish, and people complained, then you would have a point, in saying it's there fault for backing an amateur. Not knowing the course is not a mistake of an amateur, it's a mistake of a total idiot. Danish.....So what about all the people who have lost money on that horse, he should be made to pay financially just like all the people who have backed the horse. End of the day, without the betting public, racing would be 1% of what it is today. If there was a bigger penalty this sort of stuff wouldn't happen, if they threatened hefty fines then jockeys would make sure they knew the course. What does a 14 day ban mean to an amateur? **** all
On a side note - Anyone see how useless Sam Waley Cohen was on Roulez Cool? No wonder Long Run has so many jumping problems. Roulez Cool had the race at his mercy, before that plonker asked him to early for a big one 3 out, causing the horse to bank the fence. It does make you realise just how good a horse Long Run must have been to win a Gold Cup with the Cisco Kid onboard
I wrote a quite long response to this which appears to have been lost to the internet somewhere... In summary: George: VLV won that race. It was a technical glitch and betfair paid out on all bets which happened before the glitch (about 2 mins into the race). Personally I think that voiding all bets would have been sufficient and that anyone saying that betfair had to pay out for what was clearly a technical glitch is, in my opinion, extremely unrealistic and optimistic. No one in their right mind would be laying £22mil worth on a horse at 28/1 whilst they were four lengths clear with 50 yards to go. Griz: I see what you're saying and it's tricky to avoid the potential for that, I understand that a strong deterrant is necessary. Shergar: Firstly, I agree, the error made isn't really relevant to the fact that he's an amateur. Secondly, I think that in gambling, random events occur and people loose money. Take the Christmas Hurdle this year. Sanctuaire started the race about 30 lengths behind the rest after refusing to go. Money down the drain instantly. No furore because it was the horse's fault, but it's a random accidental event messing things up. Say a football player makes a terrible passback and scores an own goal under no pressure whatsoever. Does he have to pay back all the millions gambled on that match? No. It's exactly the same in my opinion. Thirdly, regarding the punishments, I just think that in my opinion, handing out potentially life changing fines to people who aren't paid particularly well is simply not a good way to do business. I agree that a 14 day ban isn't the biggest deal - but they could make it a 30 day ban, or even a couple of years, or life, and it would still be more reasonable in my eyes. Amateur jockeys don't do it for the cash, they do it for the love of the game, so a ban still hurts. Hope that all makes sense.
Found it on google . I was away skiing the week it all kicked off and I completely missed the story. Fascinating stuff.
As I recall, betfair settled all bets which were made before the glitch, and voided (i.e. gave everyone's money back, so no money was exchanged) the bets which happened after it. All betfair actually lost/spent was the commision they would have accrued on the money exchanged after the fault.
