Do You Think This Horse Should Have Been DQed?

[Sea Biscuit]

Mohawk July 8 Race 10

Do you think that #1 Master Of Law should have been DQed?

Watch this race

http://bcove.me/ylgbtpl3

Don't you think he was in clear violation of the pylon rule?

More on that in a minute after a few replies.

[baconswitchfarm]

Of course he should have. The Canadian tracks try to do as little handle as possible.Rulings like this help. Their rulings are second only to their fair start rules at deterring handle.

[imofe]

Went to the safety lane. Let every horse clear and came out last. Did not interfere with anyone and lost ground. I believe they made the correct decision in leaving this horse up.

[Sea Biscuit]

Of course he should have. The Canadian tracks try to do as little handle as possible.Rulings like this help. Their rulings are second only to their fair start rules at deterring handle.

I don't get it.

What does handles have to do with this?

[Longshot6977]

IMO, NO, he should not have been DQed. Yes, he went inside the pylon on a break and couldn't get to the outside and had to go inside. Gained a little ground doing it? Yeah, BUT lost it all and more when he had to circle the entire field. Clearly the best horse and gave a great stretch run unlike the others.

[Sea Biscuit]

Went to the safety lane. Let every horse clear and came out last. Did not interfere with anyone and lost ground. I believe they made the correct decision in leaving this horse up.

You really know your stuff Imofe.:ThmbUp:

[Sea Biscuit]

IMO, NO, he should not have been DQed. Yes, he went inside the pylon on a break and couldn't get to the outside and had to go inside. Gained a little ground doing it? Yeah, BUT lost it all and more when he had to circle the entire field. Clearly the best horse and gave a great stretch run unlike the others.

Longshot A similar incident in the US would the horse have been DQed?

[precisionk]

I believe they made the right call. Horse broke stride, lost ground and started from the back of the pack. Amazing run by Zeron. No DQ in my opinion.

[imofe]

I think a big safety lane is a great idea. Let the driver get out of the way and come back after the whole field has cleared. Now, if when making the break another horse gets interfered with before the breaking horse gets to the safety lane, then he should be placed behind the interfered horse.

[wiffleball whizz]

Didn't see race but if horse broke or went inside pylon and took
Back to last he should not be taken down

If this was on a straightaway what advantage does he gain going inside pylon? In my opinion your only hurting yourself there!!!!!! If u cut a cone on a turn that's where u gain an unfair udvantage

[imofe]

The key for the stewards in to be consistent. Racing fans will notice if they get treated differently than someone who did or did not get taken down a week ago in a similar situation.

[Longshot6977]

Longshot A similar incident in the US would the horse have been DQed?

My opinion stays the same whether Canada or US.

Did you have a bet on another horse in the race? Which one?

[Sea Biscuit]

My opinion stays the same whether Canada or US.

Did you have a bet on another horse in the race? Which one?

I did not bet any horse in the race.

[Sea Biscuit]

Initially I thought that he should have been taken down for violating the pylon rule which says as per follows

ORC PYLON RULE 18:08

When dealing with violations of standardbred rule 18.08 the following guidelines are to be used:

1. Any horse or part of the horse’s sulky that leaves the race course by going inside the pylons, when not forced to do so as a result of the

actions of another driver and/or horse or without being interfered with by another driver and/or horse, shall be placed as follows:

a) if any horse or part of the horse’s sulky goes inside two (2) consecutive pylons, the offending horse shall be placed behind all horses that are

lapped on to the offending horse at the wire;

b) if any horse or part of the horse’s sulky goes inside three (3) or more consecutive pylons, the offending horse shall be place last.

Then I shot off an email to a WEG official and this was his reply which explained it all as to why he was not taken down



This falls under the "breaking rule" which states:

When a horse breaks from its gait in a race the driver shall

1. (a) take the horse to the inside or outside of other horses where clearance exists;

2. (b) properly attempt to pull the horse to its gait; and

3. (c) continuously loses ground while on the break.






]take the horse to the inside or outside of other horses where clearance exists; properly attempt to pull the horse to its gait; and continuously loses ground while on the break. If there has been no violation of (a), (b) or (c) above, the horse shall not be set back unless a contending horse on its gait is lapped on the hind quarter of the breaking horse at the finish, however, notwithstanding the foregoing, if interference caused by another driver(s) or horse(s) has caused the horse to be on a break at the finish, the Judges may, in their discretion, determine not to set the horse back even if a contending horse on its gait is lapped on the hind quarter of the breaking horse at the finish. The Judges may set any horse back one or more places if, in their judgment, any of the above violations have been committed, and the driver may be penalized."[/color]
The key points here are that the horse was off stride, went inside (to avoid other horses), and did CONTINUOUSLY lose ground while in a break.

On fan asked me last night why more drivers don't attempt to go off stride, down to inside to save ground for the turn, then come back on in the stretch. The answer is that the horse must continuously lose ground. Very few horses could do what that on did last night - drop back to last then circle the field.

This is actually a very clearly enforced rule and the judges got it right. You may not agree with the rule - and you wouldn't be alone - but the ruling was proper.

Hope this helps.




I just wanted to see what you guys would say about this and I must say most of you were spot on and agreed with the final ruling.:ThmbUp:

[baconswitchfarm]

I don't get it.

What does handles have to do with this?

I was trying to explain that all these controversial inquiries hurt handle. People who bet the horse that was second did not cash winning tickets. Their horse was beaten by a horse completely off the track while in the turn. Their horse was beaten by the only horse that did not travel a mile in the race. This is why in other countries if you make a break you are dq'ed. People feel screwed when they lose on these coin flip decisions. When people feel screwed they do something else with their disposable income. Someone left the track last night after that call and won't come back. We are now running out of people to go home mad.

[Sea Biscuit]

I was trying to explain that all these controversial inquiries hurt handle. People who bet the horse that was second did not cash winning tickets. Their horse was beaten by a horse completely off the track while in the turn. Their horse was beaten by the only horse that did not travel a mile in the race. This is why in other countries if you make a break you are dq'ed. People feel screwed when they lose on these coin flip decisions. When people feel screwed they do something else with their disposable income. Someone left the track last night after that call and won't come back. We are now running out of people to go home mad.

I think more people would have been madder if Master Of Law had been taken down. He was the 3/5 favorite in there.

I think these kind of controversy only crops up because of lack of knowledge of the rules of the game in the fan club and I include myself in that fan club because I also felt that MAL should have been taken down.

The judges did the right thing and went by the rule book.

If anyone is interested in reading the whole ORC 152 page rule book the can download it from the link below which is in PDF format.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20434256/ORC%20Rule%20Book.pdf

[baconswitchfarm]

The horse won a race carded for one mile without traveling one mile. Find a car race , human race , or any race of any kind where that can happen . Now let people bet on it. Recipe for disaster. Three more years of free money and the Canadian horse people won' t have these problems to worry with.

[Sea Biscuit]

The horse won a race carded for one mile without traveling one mile. Find a car race , human race , or any race of any kind where that can happen . Now let people bet on it. Recipe for disaster. Three more years of free money and the Canadian horse people won' t have these problems to worry with.

C'mon Bacon. Its not all that bad.

The WEG handle is showing an upward trend.

We did a solid 1.4 mil on Thursday and 1.56 mil on Sat last.

[mostpost]

The horse won a race carded for one mile without traveling one mile. Find a car race , human race , or any race of any kind where that can happen . Now let people bet on it. Recipe for disaster. Three more years of free money and the Canadian horse people won' t have these problems to worry with.

How much ground did he actually save by going inside the pylons? Perhaps someone with a geometry background could tell us. Also why did he go inside the pylons and by doing so did he gain an advantage? Since he seemed to be about five lengths off the lead when he went off stride and fifteen or twenty lengths back when he got back on stride and back outside the pylons, I don't think he gained an advantage. He was obviously much worse off than before the incident. Good call.