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View Full Version : Who's responsible to sniff out shenanigans?


Imriledup
03-26-2009, 11:22 PM
I was reading the post about short fields and Bombs away Bob sarcastically pointed out that there's 'no shady dealings in california' which got me to thinking about short fields, late scratches and the like.

I guess NY cancells Tri wagering if there's late scratch in a short field, but in Calif, they keep tri wagering even with 5 horses and sometimes 4.

By cancelling tri wagering the racing board in NY is saying that they don't want to be responsible for sniffing out improprities so they just put it on the fans. In California, they let the wagering take place under the guise that they will make sure that races with short fields are run 'cleanly'.

My question is this. Are the stewards actively watching these races for 'fixes' (for lack of a better word)?

Are they looking for form manipulation or anything that they deem 'shady' like a jock who doesn't ride thru the wire, or a jock who takes a speed horse and wrangles him back to last?

Or, do they just look the other way. Seems to me like they look the other way.

Either that, or everyone is 100% honest in the game of horseracing.