The delinquent behaviour by certain horses at the start of the 2013 Gr2 Betting World Merchants, almost ruined what is one of our top sprint races of the Cape Summer Of Champions. It is surely time that a commission of enquiry is opened into improving procedures at our starts.
It makes no good sense that the chances and prospects of well schooled and non delinquent horses are ruined by serial offenders, who cause havoc for punters as well as jam packed racing schedules.
The Merchants was sadly jinxed from the outset, as it became the victim of unseasonally bad weather and was delayed a week. It was eventually run on the Lanzerac Ready To Run Stakes raceday on 23 November. Glen Hatt rode the winner Tevez for Mike Bass. The Caesour gelding beat Chave De Oura (one of the offenders) and Divine Jet. We did not want to originally speculate on the horses who had been the instigators of the lengthy delay, as the television head on view of the start can be misleading. We have now had sight of the official Stipes Report:
The Starter Reported
a) PRESIDENT OF POP (A Nienaber) reared in the stalls was taken out examined by the Veterinary Surgeon declared fit to race and reloaded after the saddle was adjusted, causing a delay.
b) TEVEZ (G Hatt) kicked in the stalls.
c) TRADE EMBLEM (App J Smitsdorff) was fractious in the stalls and was taken out, causing a delay.
d) CHAVE DE OURA (S Cormack) was reluctant to load causing a delay. Trainer D Drier will be advised to have this colt reschooled before its next engagement in terms of Rule 61.6.10.
e) DIVINE JET (K Neisius) was slow losing one length and thereafter was slow into stride.
f) SHADES OF INDIGO (G Cheyne) stumbled shortly after the start.
The report also indicates that the carded time of the race was 17h25 and the eventual jump time was 17h32,12. Is that accurate? Besides our difficulty with the acceptance of a principle of a process that appears to condone bad behaviour at the expense of the well schooled horses, this excerpt falls short of illustrating what actually happened.
The accuracy and depth of information contained in the stipes report is also vital to the attainment of improved levels of transparency and genuine policing of the sport by the National Horseracing Authority. It is time to set up a commission of enquiry to eradicate the kind of circus that we saw at the start of the Merchants. Simple proactivity on the part of the NHA will go a long way to improving the image of horseracing.
