BROWNIE'S BLOG: THE HUGH BOWMAN RULING - SENDING MIXED MESSAGES THAT DOES NOBODY ANY FAVOURS
By Damian Browne | Friday, September 25, 2020
When Hugh Bowman was suspended for being found to have not taken all reasonable and permissible measures to ensure Farnan gained his best placing in the Run To The Rose, racing enthusiasts were roundly divided as to whether the suspension was justified or not.
Now, with Bowman’s name being cleared and the penalty set aside on appeal, again there are different groups … for and against … who have vastly different opinions on that outcome.
In my opinion, I think Hugh was guilty of a bad ride … BUT, I don’t believe jockeys should be suspended for bad rides. I think you should be suspended if you cross the line, as in causing interference or deliberately doing something untoward … things like that … but not for a bad ride and I think that was just what the Farnan ride was!
Quite simply, jockeys do have bad rides on occasions. That is why, when you are doing your form you like to have good jockeys on the horses you are putting your money on because they make the least amount of mistakes. That is not to say they don’t make them. Given the number of races the top jockeys ride in, anybody can put in bad ride along the way.
I understand how confusing it can be when you have the stewards handing down a penalty and the appeal board then setting it aside completely. Anybody from the outside looking would be entitled to think someone doesn’t know what they were doing because it does look like that, doesn’t it?
But it even a bit confusing for me before that verdict and penalty reversal because the rule that Bowman was charged under relates to quite a serious offence and normally carries a penalty of six to eight week suspension so, when he didn’t get that after being found guilty initially, I thought he got off lightly.
It is not the type of charge where you can find somebody guilty and then say, well, we’ll only give you that much as penalty because we didn’t think it was that bad.
The whole thing, all the way through, doesn’t seem to make sense.
All people want is consistency so that everybody knows where they stand but, unfortunately, currently I feel that is not the case and that mixed messages are being sent on all fronts which does nobody any favours.
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Racing Queensland have announced a plan which will make it compulsory for unraced horses to have officially trialled before being permitted to start in a Queensland metropolitan race.
RQ puts forward ‘building punter confidence’ as motivation for the change.
That might well happen but, for me as a rider, it has more to do with the education of young horses as anything else.
Jump outs and trials … and there isn’t very much difference between a jump out and a trial to be honest, they are very similar … are important for the horse’s education so that, when they go to a race-day for the first time, they are more likely to behave in a more proper fashion than if they had not had an educational experience.
That’s where I see the main value of the proposed new rule and that is generally what they have always been used for.
If it does end up helping punter confidence by making trials for unraced horses compulsory, so much the better, although I’m not sure how you are going to be able to track that one.
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The Moir Stakes tonight brings back memories of a race that was good to me.
I won it twice on Buffering. Buffering in fact won it three times and was second over a four-year period. The honour roll of the race includes the likes of Black Caviar (twice), Miss Andretti, Apache Cat and, in the last two years, Viddora and Nature Strip … so it is usually a race of real substance.
My personal highlight in the Moir was when we beat Lankan Rupee because I really thought it was one of the times where I felt the ride won the race.
There was a lot of hype leading up to the race about Lankan Rupee leading, or not leading, In the end, I think it was one of the few times I managed to out-fox Froggy Newitt, so it was a particularly satisfying result for me.
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I see Jimmy Byrne has reported said he is happy not taking many extra rides in Sydney, so he can focus his whole attention on Rothfire as the last thing he wants going into the Golden Rose and The Everest is to pick up a suspension incurred on another horse.
My advice. Just keep them straight Jimmy and you won’t have to worry about it!
Here’s wishing Jimmy, Rob Heathcote and the whole Rothfire gang everything of the best for the Golden Rose … and then, hopefully, onward and upwards towards The Everest.
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