BROWNIE'S BLOG: A 'RUNNING AND HANDLING' CHARGE IS A SERIOUS ISSUE BUT IT CAN BE A VERY GREY AREA

By Damian Browne | Wednesday, July 1, 2020

A running and handling charge is a serious issue … but it is also a very grey area in terms of collecting solid evidence and the outcome invariably comes down to an opinion … that is the opinion held by race-day stewards.

There are obviously different aspects of the ride that are called into question in these instances but equally, on occasions, there are very good reasons for a seemingly ineffectual ride taking place.

For example, if an experienced jockey genuinely feels there is something wrong with his or her horse in the running … what are they supposed to do? If you are thinking that something is possibly wrong shouldn’t you be erring on the side of caution?

If they are wrong, everybody is still safe … whereas, if they continue on and something does happen and a horse or rider gets seriously hurt … I mean, that would be a pretty hard thing to live with.

Everybody keeps being told, quite correctly, that the welfare of the horses and the safety of the jockeys is paramount and, on rare occasions, a jockey will make that call to not ride their horse out because of concern for the horse and that has to be their prerogative.

Of course, the integrity of the race result is also important as you obviously can’t have horse’s chances seemingly compromised in these circumstances without rider scrutiny to try and ensure that there was nothing sinister in the ride.

To some degree at least, stewards have to look at the record of the jockey involved … because there can be a great difference from one jockey to another.

It could be an inexperienced jockey or perhaps, for want of a better word, is a bit of a larrakin who is trouble all of the time … and they both provide a stark comparison to someone who has been riding for ten or twenty years with little blemish on their record.

I know personally that frustrated me and a lot of other jockeys when they are questioned in that regard. They are questioning your judgement and your horsemanship while you were the one sitting on the horse’s back, but I fully acknowledge that stewards have the right to enquire if they feel things did not unfold as they should have.

But, having said that, when they come back and say they have given the horse a post-race vet check which showed no abnormalities … well, I’m not quite sure what that proves. They gave it a vet check at a walk and at a trot, not at a gallop. I mean I could walk and trot around and look good enough, but get me up to full pace and I might break down.

So, I do believe it is often a fine line in terms of any decision that is made and I am certain that, for the most part, it remains a very grey area in terms of collecting that solid evidence I mentioned earlier.

I’m certainly not condoning anybody’s dubious actions and I’m all for weeding out those who do the wrong thing. If stewards think something untoward is going on and they check the betting sheets etc and something comes of all of that … then they should throw the book at the jockey. If they can’t produce irrefutable evidence though, the jockey surely has to be given the benefit of the doubt.

Again, as I said earlier, it generally comes down to interpretation and opinion … which, to be fair, does leave room for error which is where the frustration can come in.

I know some people, some punters in particular, who want some jockeys hung, drawn and quartered after certain race results for far lesser ‘offences’ than falling foul of a running and handling charge. Like all sporting event spectators, they are entitled to sound off.

All I have tried to do here is put the argument from a jockey’s perspective.

Afterall, they are the ones right there where the action is actually taking place!
_____________________________________________________________________

Talking about looking at things from a jockey’s point of view … I received these two questions from an HRO reader.

Apparently the questions were prompted by a report that Tom Queally, who rode Frankel in all of the star’s fourteen wins, was given a seven-day suspension by the BHA for intentionally hitting rival jockey Hector Crouch with his whip in a race at Lingfield over the final furlong when both horses were out of contention.

The questions put to me were: What is the most violent ‘rider-rage’ you have witnessed in a race … and, secondly, what is the most enraged you have become in a race, if ever, and what caused that?

Firstly, I have got to say that most of the time the jockeys … even though we are angry little fellows at times … save their anger until they are back in the rooms. I think once you take any anger out into the track you cross a line. In fact, it is definitely crossing a line when you take it out there.

Ninety-nine percent of the time the blow-ups I’ve witnessed have happened back in the jockey’s room and normally it is cleared up and those involved move on very quickly.

But, to answer the question, the worst example I can think of happened in Adelaide in 2017 when a jockey rode deliberately directed his horse at full gallop into the path of rival horses at Morphettville. That was about as dangerous an act as you can get in terms of race riding. That shocked a lot of people and the jockey was subsequently suspended for eighteen months.

As far as the second question is concerned, I do have a couple of things that are my pet-hates.

One of those is when somebody works hard to get to the lead and then slams on the brakes and everybody runs straight up the bum of the horse in front of them. I hate that. I reckon it is dangerous.

The other one is when they come across from barrier sixteen … and they are looking straight at you and they just run you straight into the fence. It is not an accident. They can see you there. They are more or less looking at you saying … get out of my way, I am coming in.

There are jockeys who are shockers at this. You can see them coming from eight horses off the fence and you know that they are coming in whatever … so, sometimes you have to say to yourself, I’d better just ease back a bit here.

But, no, nothing has ever got me overly upset in a race. There was an advantage with riding with the same jockeys for so long though. I got to learn their traits and I managed my ride around those traits when I had to.

Now though, retired from riding, I can watch those things that I used to dislike unfold from the comfort of my couch in my lounge.

That’s got its advantages as well.

I no longer have to take evasive action!

More articles