FROM THE SHERIFF'S DESK - 'BREATH ANALYSIS' AND 'CHANGE OF TACTICS' RULES SHOULD BE REVISITED

By John Schreck | Thursday, May 12, 2016

John Schreck, a former Chief Steward in both Sydney and Hong Kong, has seen both the colourful and the dark sides of racing. His wealth of experience and his deep knowledge of racing matters across the board is unquestioned and the reputation he built as a racing ‘lawman’ remains firmly entrenched in racing’s history. Shreck’s personal blog, ‘From the Sheriff’s Desk', appears exclusively on HRO.

We are all aware by now of the fact that Damien Oliver was suspended at Warrnambool for providing a breath analysis that was over the limit.

It is disappointing that a person in the sport of Damien Oliver’s calibre would put himself in such a position, but that has happened and hopefully everyone can move on.

In the wake of the Warrnambool outcome though, there has been a bit of talk that the breath analysis limit should be changed and increased from the current limit of 0.02, to be able to ride a racehorse, to a limit of 0.05 ... which is the same as the limit to drive a car.

This is obviously, absolutely ludicrous thinking.

I do think that the limit should be changed ... to ZERO.

I think the rule should be set on a limit of zero with a discretionary provision so that stewards can treat each case on its particular set of facts.

In my time there were no doubt riders who rode over the limit. In those days they could take lasix with impunity, but things have changed and everybody is more aware of the need to be testing for things we didn’t test for in my time.

We have the means to enforce such a rule these days and should do so to a very strict level.

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There is another rule ... the change in tactics rule ... which I think should be revisited.

Trainers are currently obliged to inform stewards of any change of tactics with their runners. Announcements are then made, for example, that a horse will be ridden back, but then it jumps nicely and is ridden near the front.

When this type of thing happens, as it does regularly, it just reinforces the folly of such a rule.

All that rule does is seek to destroy initiative ... and the sooner it is taken from the rule book the better.

During my time in Hong Kong we used to announce changes of tactics if a trainer came to us and told us beforehand. I had the view ... and I had the same opinion in Sydney ... that if I was told something about a horse then I was duty bound to pass that information on to the general public.

In Hong Kong now they have stopped announcing those sorts of things because of the confusion it created when those tactics were not always followed.

With that there has been no decline in turnover and less criticism of the sport so, as I say, the sooner the change of tactics rule is done away with the better it is for the game.

I don’t see any upsides to it at all just plenty of negativity.

You have to remember that the beauty of the horse racing game is its unpredictability.

To try and stifle that and have horses running to a particular pre-set pattern while at the same time putting unnecessary pressure on the rider’s right to show initiative is not the way to go!

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I see Queenslanders have been upset by a recent comment made on RSN which suggested that the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival, which is now upon us, is a carnival for ‘second tier, non-competitive Sydney carnival horses’.

That was a very unfair thing to say about the Winter Carnival and I can fully understand the Queenslander’s response to it.

You can talk about the likes of Winx in recent times, or Rough Habit in the past or you can go right back in time and talk about Bernborough and you will be able to draw up a long list of some great horses that have won in Queensland during the winter time.

A lot of trainers also make use of the benefits of the winter climate in Queensland to race their horses there in the winter and then let them have a little spell before bringing them back bigger and better in the spring, again as many good horses have done over the years.

So I am happy to say that the statement in question is very much off the mark.