Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Stewards’ Rulings Demand Transparency, Accountability
The good news is that I hit a trifecta last Saturday; the bad news is that I got crushed. You see, it wasn’t the kind of trifecta that you want to catch.
I was disqualified out of three winning wagers, an exacta and two trifectas. None would have made me rich. But on a bad handicapping day, you take anything the racing gods allow.
One of the disqualifications caused quite a stir, the other two didn’t, and they were justified. But Proud Spell’s disqualification from second in the Mother Goose Stakes was anything but fair to a majority of the betting public.
As stated, I was having a bad handicapping day, but was exacta-ly right in the Mother Goose. I thought Oaks heroine Proud Spell was vulnerable, turning back to one turn at a shorter distance. Besides, the karma surrounding the Larry Jones outfit hasn’t been very good lately.
So, with the talented and promising Music Note an underlay at 8-5--I needed 2-1 to bet her straight--I walked up to the window and bet the 4-2 exacta cold. Proud Spell was too much filly to finish worse than second.
They’re off! You win! Check that, you lose!
Now I did have a vested interest in the outcome. But anyone who’s been to the races with me knows I’m objective. Doesn’t make me smart; just fair minded. That must come from all those years in the press box where, in the interests of decorum and professionalism, there is no cheering allowed.
Parenthetically, that rule later was amended by turf writer Andrew Beyer about two decades ago when he decreed: “cheering is permitted if the score you’re about to make is equal to, or greater than, 10 percent of your annual salary.”
I can’t remember if that came before or after he put his fist through a press box partition in Florida after a particularly vexing result. But I digress.
For all those who are unaware, there once was a hard and fast rule that a horse “must maintain a straight course.” That's still the case but the spirit of the rule was changed recently to give stewards more latitude, essentially making all decisions judgment calls.
Back in the day, even the inadvertent striking of a rival in the face with a whip was cause for automatic disqualification. That is no longer the case, although I think it should be.
I have no problem with the judgment calls of professionals with one proviso: that they be consistent. On balance, New York’s stewards are no better or no worse than officials from other major jurisdictions.
At times, they lapse into inconsistency. But that wasn’t the problem in the Mother Goose; bad judgment was. In my view, the stewards’ decision served neither the letter nor the spirit of racing’s rules.
Never Retreat, the filly that was placed second following the disqualification of Proud Spell, was at least as culpable as the favorite when it came to the trouble incurred by both fillies during the running of the Mother Goose.
Race-riding, Alan Garcia on Never Retreat, suckered Gabriel Saez into taking the rail path as the quartet straightened away into the Elmont stretch. Whether Saez and Proud Spell had sufficient room is questionable, but the notion that Garcia shut them off is not.
While he had no obligation not to do so, Javier Castellano on the winner tightened it up on both fillies as they brushed by to take command. Saez is a talented young rider, but certainly didn’t cover himself in glory aboard the Oaks winner last Saturday.
When the field was into the straight, Never Retreat drifted to nearly the center of the course, while Proud Spell, having checked out from close quarters at headstretch, altered her course back inside for running room.
After getting some daylight, and with his filly surging, Saez got her off the inside several paths when, at that point, tiring pacesetter Never Retreat first began drifting in. The fillies came together making contact with each other.
Finally, after straightening out again, and as Proud Spell began to pull away, she drifted out precipitously despite Saez’s right hand insistence, and soundly bumped the even-paced Never Retreat while quickly pulling away, 1-¾ lengths clear at the finish.
So, the first evil doer was rewarded for the later transgression of another rival, who was retaliating not for the first incident--when she was purposefully shut off at headstretch--but for a second incident in which Never Retreat was just as much at fault.
The result should have been allowed to stand.
This is another example of how the sport shoots itself in the foot. And while the industry likes to use the words transparency and accountability, they act as if they have no understanding of what that means.
Instead of taking a leadership role by following the example of foreign jurisdictions that seem to get things like this right, the New York Racing Assn. doesn’t mandate that its stewards--one each appointed by the state, the Jockey Club, and the association itself-- be accountable.
Whenever a disqualification occurs, a written explanation should be made public. Such transparency is something that many segments of the racing media have been imploring the tracks to do for years.
The problems facing the game, as everyone knows, are myriad. This is an easy one to fix, but nobody will step up and do the right thing. The majority of Mother Goose betting public lost about a half-million dollars on a bad call.
And if you didn’t read about it in the papers, or on-line, no one would know it happened. The New York State Racing and Wagering Board? Does one really even exist?
Written by John Pricci
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