THE HRO / RACEHORSETALK COMBO - CLARIFYING RIDING CLEARANCE RULES AND HOW THEY APPLY

By HRO/racehorsetalk | Wednesday, December 14, 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.

One of Larry Cassidy’s recent blogs on HRO … ‘Club doctor issue needs a remedy’ … opened up an area of conversation which seemed to contain a level of confusion.

Cassidy had arrived at an Ipswich race-meeting, claiming to be fit and ready to ride, but he had failed to bring the required riding clearance certificate with him after having been stood down from riding two days earlier.

With no doctor at the track and with Cassidy been told that the attending paramedics were not empowered to give such a clearance, Cassidy’s day came to an early halt … that is except for riding a track gallop in-between races. That latter exercise seemingly added to the confusion. Stood down from race riding, but he could ride track-work? Why was there no doctor on duty? What are the rules governing clearance certificates and how are they applied?

Three were many questions and opinions, a cross-section of which were posted on racehorsetalk.com.au

Dubbledee:
Larry's not happy that there was no doctor at Royal Ipswich

Rumpelstiltskin
Is it common practice to have a club doctor present at race meetings?

Dubbledee:
It is for metro meetings. Can't answer for others, Rumpel. I would think a qualified doctor would be required for a jockey who wanted to stand down for medical reasons. I could accept that the paramedics are adequate to deal with injuries.

Rumpelstiltskin
Interesting post DD, i think more importantly we need to consider the rider who has an important ride coming up in the next race. An eg would be a rider who is wasting and on the verge of fainting but wanting to ride on. With a club doctor on hand this rider would most likely be stood down. Ive seen it happen where a rider is stood down by the doc after not looking to flash. The same rider could take the mount at Ipswich endangering himself and other riders without a doctor on course.

Does that pose a potential problem for a rider who injures them self in a race and then rides in a following race when they are not quite ok.

Racingimages:
One would imagine Comcare would be all over this if something went wrong.

Arsenal:
(Quoting from Cassidy’s blog). “I did everything I could to get an acceptable clearance before arriving at the track. I came up short in that regard, but believed I still had options and adequate time to resolve the situation at the track before the meeting got underway"

It's his own fault … plenty of other doctors he could have gone to … if his preferred quack couldn't fit him in he mustn't be a Larry lover like some.

Dubbledee:
The Club Doctor - on tracks where there is one - would not (necessarily) have at his disposal the paraphernalia required to give a full medical clearance

JWesleyharding
What? A pen and paper? How much "paraphernalia" is required for "Little Johnny is fit to ride for the balance of the programme."?

Rumpelstiltskin:
I think it does happen, clearances on race day. I also believe riders have turned up to meetings without a clearance and been allowed to ride.

The Baker:
What, you don't think the stipes are dirty on Cassidy for getting off his two month holiday and it was just a bit of a square up. That would never happen at RQL.

Rumpelstiltskin:
DD maybee its true that jockeys turn up to metro and provincial meetings on occasions and are given a clearance by the club doctor. if this is the case was Cassidy maybee doing what others and himself have done in the past. i would like to know if jockeys have turned up without a clearance in the past to Ipswich and been allowed to ride.

Proud Dad:
I know as fact jockeys turning up at caloundra on a sunday just visit the on course doctor on arrival and then he verbally clears them to ride

Rumpelstiltskin:
Interesting PD so the jockeys go to the races and get the clearance there, so Cassidy could have been thinking that himself.

The rules seem to be pretty vague or maybee there’s goalpost that can be moved.

I’m just wondering if theres any clear rules, like, if you turn up to the races without a medical clearance you may or may not be allowed to ride depending if there is or isnt a doctor on duty and depending on the nature or presumed nature of your injury. glad thats cleared up.

It seems to me this is a very grey area and needs to be looked at, or maybee its black and white and i just dont know the rules.

Well HRO went looking for some answers. Chief Steward Wade Birch was happy to oblige.

HRO: There was a situation recently where jockey Larry Cassidy was unhappy with the fact that a doctor is not being present at Ipswish race-meetings. It all revolved around Cassidy needing to present a clearance certificate after he had been stood down during the previous meeting and apparently believing he could get that at the track. What are rules regarding clearance certificates?

Wade Birch: "The rules apply that jockeys get a clearance before they race ride if they have been previously been stood down.

"In certain circumstances we can provide some latitude. If they are stood down on a Saturday and they are riding on a Sunday, then we will get the club doctor, who is always in attendance at Caloundra, to clear them before they ride on the Sunday."

HRO: So it Caloundra the only track where you can arrive and get a clearance from the course doctor?

Wade Birch: "Only if you have been stood down on the Saturday. In circumstances where there is an opportunity for riders to gain a clearance from their own doctors or medical centre, they must do that. We hold a very strong line on that."

HRO: But there will be times where, for whatever reason, jockeys do arrive at the track without a clearance wanting to ride. How do the rules apply in that situation?

Wade Birch: "If there is a doctor on track and a jockey arrives without a clearance, we’ll more than likely penalize the rider for not getting a clearance and allow the doctor to clear them to ride. Usually that is a $100 fine, or maybe more considering rider’s records.

"Mainly we do that because, if the resource to resolve the matter is there, we don’t want to have the penalty visited upon the rider flow down to the connections who have secured his services. You don’t want them to have lost a jockey. And, obviously, the same goes for the betting public. We don’t want them to be compromised by any late change if we can help it."

HRO: There was no doctor present at Ipswich on the day that Cassidy raised his complaint and apparently that has been the case at that club for some time. Can you explain why only paramedics are at Ipswich and not a doctor?

Wade Birch: "As far as the situation that arose at Ipswich is concerned, there was a meeting between Racing Queensland, the Queensland Jockeys Association and the Ipswich Turf Club in respect of having a doctor on call at Ipswich, given the exorbitant costs of having a doctor present throughout the meeting.

"What was agreed between the QJA, Racing Queensland and Ipswich was that a doctor would be on call and, if the circumstances arose that we needed a doctor, he would come directly to the track.

"The situation involving Larry Cassidy … I believe he came, he didn’t have a clearance. He was provided with the opportunity to visit a doctor in Ipswich to get that clearance. He declined that opportunity and unfortunately, under the rules, the stewards had to stand him down.

"Cassidy did ride in a track-work gallop in-between races on the same day. The rules don’t prohibit riders from riding track-work before gaining a clearance. It only refers to race riding."

HRO: What powers, or lack of powers, do paramedics have compared to a medical doctor?

Wade Birch: "The information we have is that the paramedics are trained in dealing with trauma and are the trained in dealing with injuries that may be sustained in a race fall. Paramedics were at Ipswich on the day in question.

"With regard to the powers of the paramedics in terms of standing down a rider or given a rider a clearance … the paramedics don’t have the power to stand a jockey down as such, but the stewards would take on board the their advice and we would make that decision to stand a rider down if it was warranted.

"The paramedics will clear a rider to ride if he has an accident at the race meeting they are attending. To clarify that, if there is a fall in a race, and the jockey says I’m alright to go, they’ll clear the rider if they have been on-course for that particular occurrence, but they won’t clear a rider if they are not aware of the circumstances that led to him needing to be given a clearance in the first place. That is why the paramedics were not able to give Cassidy with the clearance on the day in question.

"So, that’s where we are at. It is unfortunate that the connections lost the services of one of the top riders that day, when it was really a situation that could have been avoided."

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