THE HRO / RACEHORSETALK COMBO - RQL ANSWERS QUESTIONS ABOUT PHOTO-FINISH PROTOCOL

By HRO/racehorsetalk | Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Every fortnight readers will be served a tasty HRO / Racehorsetalk Combo. Topics sourced from the racehorsetalk.com.au forum of the past two weeks will be expanded upon by the HRO team to give you the best combination of coverage on topical events. This coverage, courtesy of this forward-looking undertaking between two successful websites, will appear every second Wednesday on HRO making it a ‘Must-Read Midweek’ offering.

On the back of the wave of dissatisfaction on the Sunshine Coast photo-finish issue which was roundly discussed on racehorsetalk and which was part of the HRO / Racehorsetalk Combo article on November 16, HRO posed a number of questions to RQL in a letter sent to Jamie Orchard, the Director of Intregrity Operations.

Orchard replied promptly … within a matter of hours. The relevant portions of the HRO letter are posted here along with the Jamie Orchard’s response to those questions (with the most important point highlighted in bold print).

The HRO letter to Jamie Orchard (RQL).

The photo-finish decision in the second race at Caloundra on November 6 sparked a reaction from the public which is ongoing. There were two distinct delays which originally irked punters. The delay in the posting of the original result and the lengthy subsequent wait for that result, which was contested by the second placed connections, to be confirmed.

The fact that the photo-finish 'print' was then not made available for viewing to the betting public further fanned the flames which have seemingly burnt away the wavering confidence that some unhappy punters still had in the system. So they have questions.

In the interest of brevity, I have collated much of their feedback into four simply series of questions. If you could cover the identified issues in a reply (for publication) I am sure it will go a long towards resolving this issue.

Is Racing Queensland happy with the way events unfolded at Caloundra or would you agree that taking 35 minutes to get an official, confirmed result is unsatisfactory and breeds suspicion in the validity of the process? If the latter, have steps been put in place to ensure that situation cannot be repeated in the future?

As they say in the classics, justice should not only be done, but should be seen to be done. The weight of public opinion is that photo-finishes need to be made available to the public for viewing at the appropriate time to remove all argument from the scenario. In the light of this latest incident, is Racing Queensland aiming to follow that route so that punters can see they are given a fair go and that any conspiracy theories are wrong and the judge's competency is not in question.

Are there any technical matters that complicate that aim and, if so, what are they? For example the Melbourne Cup photo-finish was posted in a matter of minutes for the whole country to see. The Caloundra photo-finish was only posted in the weighing room, but was not made available for the public to view even after a group had requested that from the Stewards? Why was that? Is a copy of that photo-finish still available should unhappy punters want satisfy themselves about the outcome, even though the episode is now past-tense?

Lastly, several people have claimed to have submitted queries to Racing Queensland on this matter without getting a courtesy of a reply. For the record, does Racing Queensland's have a policy with regard to replying to letters of query from the public, and, if so, what is it?

I thank you for taking time to attend to this matter.

Graham Potter

The Jamie Orchard (RQL) letter to HRO.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the matters you have raised.

Let me start by saying that I appreciate that the judge's decision in this case has caused some controversy. That has undoubtedly been made worse by a photo finish image not being available to everyone who was interested in seeing it.

Unfortunately the image to which we have had access at RQL doesn't have the clarity of that which the judge had on the day and it could be misleading to publish that image. However, we will be bringing the system from the Sunshine Coast to Deagon to show the image to a person who has expressed a desire to see it and when we do so, we will endeavor to send the image to you for publication on your website.

In respect of your specific queries, I can advise as follows:

We are always keen to get results confirmed as quickly as possible after a race. This gives connections and punters certainty and is in everyone's interests. In this case, the process took longer than usual for a number of reasons.

Firstly, connections of More Than Love requested to view the photo finish image and then the trainer, Mr Guy, made an application (as he is perfectly entitled to do) that More Than Love be declared the equal winner.

That in itself would delay the declaration of correct weight but in this case the delay was extended as the image in the Steward's room was not sufficient to allow the relevant parties to be satisfied. Accordingly it was necessary to view the image on the system in the judge's box.

As you will know, getting to the judge's box at the Sunshine Coast involves climbing up quite a number of stairs so there was further delay in all of the parties travelling there and then returning to the Steward's room for the final decision to be made.

That said, we are now reviewing the system in place for the display of photo finish images in the Steward's room in the hope of ensuring that the need to travel to the judge's box is curtailed. This review is not restricted to the Sunshine Coast but will also consider other venues.

Our view is that images should be made available for the public. In this regard, judges do have a system whereby the image is able to be displayed electronically to both on-course and off-course consumers. Judges are being reminded of the expectation of RQL in this regard. As stated above, our expectation is that images are displayed on monitors on-course for the public and that should have occurred in this case.

In terms of the public seeing this particular image now, the one person that has since asked us if he can view it has been advised that the system will be in place at RQL next week and he has been invited to attend at RQL to view the image. While that system is here, we aim to send a copy of the image to you for publication.

In terms of acknowledging complaints and expressions of concern from the public, we have a very clear policy on this which is available on our website. That policy indicates that we will respond to all complaints that are received and we go to some trouble to ensure that is done.

In particular, we have a Complaints Co-ordinator who receives every complaint and ensures they are dealt with in accordance with our Policy. Complaints can be made by mail, facsimile, email, by telephone, in person at Deagon or to the Stewards at any race meeting. The necessary contact details are provided in the published policy.

Moreover, there is a specific system on the RQL website for people to lodge a complaint which again operates to ensure that every complaint goes through the formal complaints assessment process. We aim to acknowledge every complaint within 5 days and to resolve complaints within 30 days. In most cases we achieve that resolution timeframe.

I hope that goes some way toward clarifying our position on this matter and indicating what steps we are taking in respect of the issues highlighted.

Regards,
Jamie Orchard

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