FOR THE SECOND WEEK IN-A-ROW THE REFEREE BECOMES A PLAYER IN THE GAME

By Graham Potter | Monday, January 23, 2012

For the second successive week the referee became a player in the game at the main Saturday race meeting in Queensland. Last week the stewards were tested by a high profile protest at the Gold Coast. This week it was a case where weight loss was not a good thing!

The concerned look on Chief Steward Wade Birch’s face when he realized that apprentice Patrick Keane’s return weight after his ‘winning’ ride aboard Gold Rating was hopelessly under the accepted allowance was the first indication of the fact that a serious issue was unfolding.

It was an anxious walk for Keane as he accompanied Birch to be weighed a second time on a different scale and that anxiousness soon turned to dismay as the reading remained the same.

Keane and trainer Michael Nolan were immediately summoned to the stewards’ room to give their account of proceedings and to confirm certain details. They were joined later by Kim McCasker, one of the owners of Gold Rating.

The first fact placed on record was that Keane had officially weighed out at 55.60kg with a breast-plate and weighed in at 54.74kg on the same scales on which he had weighed out.

A rider is allowed a half-a-kilo leeway in terms of weighing in light and the 0.86kg difference here was some way in excess of that.

Trainer Michael Nolan then confirmed that the gear with which Keane weighed in matched the items he had taken out when saddling Gold Rating and Keane stated that he had made no chances to the gear between weighing out and passing the gear to Nolan.

In looking for an explanation for the ‘missing weight’ McCasker put forward the argument about the temperature and the humidity on the day and the role it would play in the weight loss incurred by a jockey riding in a staying race, particularly when he was being very active maintaining a sustained run in a pressurized finish.

Birch did point out that all jockeys were subject to the same, often very hot and humid conditions, both on the day and historically … and it a very rare occurrence for a jockey to weight in excess of his or her allowed leeway.

McCasker reiterated his stance that allowance should be made for it being ‘a very hot day.’

With no other explanation forthcoming from jockey, trainer or owner, Birch explained to the connections of Gold Rating that the rule that had been breached is not discretionary.

After a short deliberation Birch then announced the finding of the stewards: “Australian Racing Rule 143 states: If a horse carries less weight than it should carry it shall be disqualified from the race.

“We have no option but to disqualify the horse from the race.”

“No, that is just wrong,” interjected Nolan.

Birch reiterated the fact that those were the rules. He added that a horse has to carry its correct, allowable weight and it was obvious that Gold Rating had not done so in this case.

Gold Rating was officially disqualified and Mr Light Blue, the original second placed runner, was declared the winner with the other placed numbers also being amended.

Debate has opened up about the plight of the punters caught in the crossfire here particularly with regard to the pertinent point that, if Gold Rating went out with the incorrect weight, investors never had any chance of getting a return on their money as he would either run unplaced or get disqualified.

That will always be an unfair scenario for punters … there can be no getting away from that and thankfully it is a very rare occurrence … but there is no ready-made answer to rectifying the matter.

While all commiserations are due to all innocent parties involved, ordering a refund on a horse whose rider has weighed in light will clearly provide an opening for more problems than solutions and would have the capacity to turn racing into a sham, so that is not an option that can reasonably be implemented … and there seems to be little other choice beyond applying the rules as they stand.

Last week's protest

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