MY CALL: LEFT SCRATCHING MY HEAD OVER THE 'STARTING STALLS INCIDENT' SCRATCHING POLICY

By David Fowler | Tuesday, August 22, 2017

David Fowler is the principal thoroughbred caller for Radio TAB. David, who is a keen form student and punter, has enjoyed a lifetime involvement in the racing media. His personal blog, ‘My Call’, appears exclusively on HRO.

To scratch or not to scratch.

Of course I’m referring to whether horses should be permitted to start or not when they become unsettled in the barriers and come into contact with the partitions.

The issue came under the microscope when the $1.40 favorite Impregnable fell into such a category before the first on Saturday.

Impregnable was cleared to run and it’s fair to say performed sluggishly in finishing third.

Was the performance directly related to the incident in the barrier?

Should it have gotten that far?

Should there be automatic scratching order when such a situation happens?

These are legitimate questions.

And the veterinary surgeon on duty at the starting point has to make a split second decision.

Should they be charged with such an onerous responsibility?

Facts and figures clearly demonstrate that horses vetted and cleared rarely win.

Can that abysmal strike rate be solely attributed to the physical incident in the barriers?

Again more legitimate questions.

The point being there are too many grey areas in this topic. Consistency of decisions is clearly impacted.

Surely, any horse who makes significant contact (determined by the vet) with the barrier partitions should be withdrawn regardless of price or race stature.

One rule for all, while maybe unpalatable to some, would ensure consistency and eliminate the aforementioned legitimate questions.

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No racecaller likes getting a photo finish wrong.

So you can appreciate I was a bit peeved when I plonked for Legadema over Umberto and the judge’s result went the other way.

Doomben is always a nightmare being positioned well before the finish line.

But it didn’t surprise me that my Sky Racing colleague Josh Fleming also went the wrong way.

It's uncanny how frequently two callers will either get it both right or both wrong.

I couldn’t name a race that I went for A and my counterpart went for B.

Hard to explain why but that’s the way it is.

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I haven’t met Jag Guthman-Chester but I’ve seen…. and I've heard… enough.

His Saturday debut winner Stanley demonstrated his riding skill and he will be hot property with his 3kg claim.

But it was his post-race interview that impressed me more.

Intelligent words and measured tones stamped him as a young man going places.

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