Just a quick one for you guys, I have just caught up on some of the weekends other meetings as i was too engrossed in Longchamp. Watched the Rubi Light race and noticed he was remounted and got 3rd place. Is remounting only forbidden in races run in england? or has it been scrapped. Thanks!
Smokin, It must not be banned in Ireland, but I must admit I was absolutely gutted when Rubi Light fell. I've watched the race three times and still can't work it out. Davy Russell was reported to have blamed himself- saying "there was a breakdown between horse and rider." What does he mean by that? It certainly was a most unusual fall! What did you make of it, Smokin- or anyone else who saw it?
Remounting was banned in England about 5 years ago. The remounting of Kauto Star after he fell at the second last to get beaten a short head in a novice chase at Exeter had a large part to do with it. He was subsequently found to be injured and missed the rest of the season. I think it was agreed that it was in the best interests of the horses welfare if it was banned.
I view the remounting rule in the same way I view the new whip rules, no-one is better placed than the jockey to judge so they should be allowed to make that call. It's a nonsense that a UK based horse can travel over to Ireland where jockeys are allowed to make that judgement but in UK they are not, are horses bettwe protected when falling at Irish tracks ? As I said, I'd leave it to the jockey to but at least lets have consistency...
Tam I think Davy felt the race was sown up and maybe took the last with a little less caution than was needed. Pushed into most fences with a decent stride, he left the last for the horse to 'pop over' in his own time. In the end, he ran down the fence and met it all wrong. thats my view anyways , whats yours? With regards the remounting rule, i think it should remain as it is in england, and ireland should follow suit. I don't think it should be up to the jockey to decide, it leaves too many potential problems, especially in a time when horse racing is fighting to retain its reputation against AA etc! Imagine a horse getting re mounted having sustained an injury which then becomes life threatening? Jockey would be labbelled as greedy for racing on for prize money, or cruel for carrying on .... the list is endless. I say leave it as it is, but thats merely my opinion! hehe
I agree with the non remount. A jockey is not a vet. He can't subject the horse to a barrage of tests before he remounts.
I agree with not being able to remount.On the other hand, they could train the jockeys to be more like soccer players that trip over their own boot laces,and roll around the ground for 5 mins in agony(,before miraculously being able to run the length of the pitch), and then it would be to late to remount,because the other horses would be past the finish line and the race finished.
At the risk of copping some well deserved flack from the guys here Islander, we in Oz have always thought "soccer" was a game for soft c**ks.
First of all I hate horse's like Sizing Europe, on his day a world beater, but most of the time he runs knowere near his best, it's hard enough to read the form without horse's like him. I must admit I invested heavily on Sizing Europe on Saturday, and I felt extremely fortunate to be collecting. Cyclonic and Islanderpei....So you want to have a pop at our national sport, and the most popular sport world wide. First of all it is called football not soccer, and secondly it's abit rich coming from people from 2 nations that have created there own forms of football, played mainly with there hands. How can you call a sport FOOTball and play it with your hands, it makes no sense to me
Irrespective of what it's called, it's a game for pussies. Put in a shoe lace, and it's time to dive to the turf in agony. Soft. P.S. However, I will agree with you about Aussie Rules mate, it's also a girl's game.
Diving and play acting is a problem In football, but in some ways it shows just how much passion and will to win these guys have, they want to win at all costs, and if that means faking injury to get an opponent sent off, or diving in the box to win there team a penalty and a clear goal scoring opportunity, then they will do it. That's the nature of football, and it is impossible to wipe it out, it is down to the referees not to be fooled by this. Football may not be the most manly of sports, but its an exciting game to watch. Rugbys a pretty physical sport, but it's like watching paint dry. A load of cart horse's bundling on top of each other, fighting over an egg shaped ball. Boxers probably look at Rugby players, and think look at those big wimps, wrestling in the mud, the same as footballers look at Cricketers, a sport where they go in for tea scones at half time, and think what a bunch of wussys. There is always a sport out there more physical than another, but there must be something that makes football the number 1, as far as popularity goes
So to the issue at hand. I'm for remounting, it's a competitive sport and if a jockey is in with a chance of least a place then he should fight for it - for the sake at least of all the punters who expect a trier. We can go on about the welfare of the horse, but unmounting a horse by itself is not usually a sign of injury and there is obviously a huge responsibility within the yard not to knacker your own highly expensive stock.
Smokin, yes he did start to run down the fence (to his left) but then ran it down violently right. Very strange and I wondered if Russell had pulled violently on the reins- but he didn't seem to. Other than that, I have no idea!
I can see the reasons for opposition, but this again is a case of finding a balance between the jockey attempting to gain the best possible position and the safety of racehorses. I have no problem if the rule in Ireland changes to match that of Britain, what I find difficult to accept is the fact a different rule exists. I have seen many times a horse seemingly going OK and being pulled up because the jockey felt the horse wasn't traveling, breathing difficulties etc all in the interest of the horses safety, on many occasions tests were clear and the horse ran again in a week or so, so I believe the 'bully' of a jockey who would push a dying an injured/dying horse all the way when he/she knew they were in distress doesn't exist. PN will I'm sure confirm that a greater number of horses are fatally injured on the gallops - this bears no relationship to the excersions of racing but is usually a physical weakness/defect that went undetected. If it was the excersions of racing then I would have expected a number of fatalities at Fontwell at the weekend when staying chasers were being asked to work in tempertures around 30 degrees...
Just to weigh in, Grizzly is right in that a larger number of horses are injured, fatally or otherwise, on the gallops than on the racecourse. Unless we are onboard a horse in a race it is impossible to tell why a horse may be pulled up. A wrong step or a gurgle is more than enough reason for a jockey to take no chances. However, sometimes a horse will keep pushing itself. Look at MAIDS CAUSEWAY who kept running to the line in the Coronation Stakes at York when Michael Hills stopped riding her in the last few hundred yards. I'm 99% certain he said he felt her take a wrong step so stopped riding her, but she kept going under her own steam and won. I'm pretty sure she was found to have a muscular injury after the race.
If the horse has absolutely belted the fence and taken a heavy fall then no way should it be remounted. If, however, he's just pecked a bit on landing and the jock has gone out of the sider door (so more of a U than an F) then I think that's OK (although when its a U the horse has usually carried on and the jock is left standing there). As a general rule (which is what we need) I would ban in though
Shergar, I was on the understanding that CRICKET was the national sport of England, and for your info Lacrosse is the national sport of Canada, before you start asking.
Thats incorrect, you are combining two stories. When Kauto Star fell and was found to be injured it was decided that the BHA should add a clause stating the jockey has to be sure that the horse is sound if its to be remounted. The ban wasn't put in place until 2nd November 2009, and this was after a remounting of a horse in a race at Cheltenham (which unseated at the last when a distant second) that was found to be lame but was still remounted to canter the last couple of yards so as to collect prizemoney. Remounting in Ireland isn't banned and I think that its fair enough, NH racing comes from the Hunting sphere and if you fall off in a hunt you are expected to get up and get on with it. Jockeys should be able to determine if the horse is sound and they should be able to handle the responsibility. However in this world of health and safety and the mass media which portrays any little accident as an outrage we have got to a position where we are too scared of the negative press to allow sense to prevail.
Agree, our cat loves watching football on TV, can't take her eyes off the ball. So it is a game for pussies..................
Shock, horror, it's happened, I can't believe it. At long last, after all these years, I have to disagree with NassauBoard on something. If a rider falls from a horse, then fair enough, remount. But if the horse comes a cropper, then time to call it quits. There is every chance that the animal is ok, but there are guarantees. Without a vet's examination, there is no way of knowing if the horse has been injured. If an animal is withdrawn behind the barrier before the start, because it's action looks a bit suspect, then surely a horse can't be allowed to compete if it's hit the turf. Even if it looks ok, the heat in the body can cover an injury.
