Calder Scratch/DQ

[jballscalls]

I apologize for not knowing the race number, but a race at Calder today had an interesting scratch.

The 12 horse came out of the gate very late behind everyone and still ended up running second at 25 to 1. But the stews put up the inquiry sign and scratched the horse saying he wasn't awarded a fair start, thus was considered a non starter.

Now i've seen this happen before, but this was the first time i've seen it happen to horse that ended up hitting the board!! If anything the horse, the owners, and the bettors should be rewarded for picking an animal that ran such a huge race.

Has anyone ever seen this before?

[Ron]

I apologize for not knowing the race number, but a race at Calder today had an interesting scratch.

The 12 horse came out of the gate very late behind everyone and still ended up running second at 25 to 1. But the stews put up the inquiry sign and scratched the horse saying he wasn't awarded a fair start, thus was considered a non starter.

Now i've seen this happen before, but this was the first time i've seen it happen to horse that ended up hitting the board!! If anything the horse, the owners, and the bettors should be rewarded for picking an animal that ran such a huge race.

Has anyone ever seen this before?

Yes but who gets rewarded, place and show bettors? The win bettors still get screwed.
Did the scratch include purse money or just wagering? I assume he still gets second place purse money.

[RonTiller]

Race 7 at Calder on July 18th., horse = Just a Dream.

This horse was not scratched; she ran for purse money only.

The race footnotes read "Following a stewards inquiry, JUST A DREAM was declared a non-starter for receiving an unfair start."

The long comment in her record is: "popped open gate, poor start, rallied, declared non-starter."

She earned $2,755.00 for her 2nd place finish but the place and show mutuels went to the 3rd and 4th place horses.

This doesn't happen everyday but is not uncommon. Since July 10th, these nonstarters are recorded:

FL fractious gate, broke slow, lost iron, non-starter
FP unprepared start, drifted out into stretch, no response
FP unprepared start, 4 wide turn, hung, declared non-starter
MTH unprepared start, declared non-starter
CRC popped open gate, poor start, rallied, declared non-starter
PLN declared non starter
WO broke through gate, trailed field,unfair start,refund

When a horse breaks through the gate early and gets a head start, it hardly seems like bettors should be rewarded should the horse hit the board. Likewise, if that horse wins (after breaking through the gate early and getting a head start) and you have a ticket on the 2nd place horse, people would be crying about what idiots the stewards are, how the game is rigged, how unfair it is to allow a horse an early start, etc.

"unprepared start" seems to be another reason for declaring a horse a nonstarter. I'm guessing these unprepared starts are attributed to the starters in the starting gate, so the stewards are probably attempting to protect bettors from bone headed starters screwing up a horse's break. But I'm just guessing on that.

Ron Tiller
HDW

[InTheRiver68]

I don't see the one listed that I saw at (I think) Calder about a week or two ago. The horse got caught in an odd position at the break, with his head turned fully to the side, his nose preventing him from moving forward through the gate. No malfunction of the gate, probably attributed to the assistant starter not keeping the animal pointed straight ahead, but they declared the horse a non-starter. I didn't get it. I always thought the only reason to declare a non-starter was because of a gate malfunction.

- InTheRiver68

[ryesteve]

The problem I have with how this Calder race was handled is that since they awarded the horse 2nd purse money, they're clearly implying that the horse was impaired by whatever went on at the break, rather than helped unfairly, no?

That said, why shouldn't those who bet place and show (not to mention exacta tickets with this horse underneath) get paid off? I can see win bets being refunded, but it sure looks like those who would've cashed, got royally screwed.

[kenwoodallpromos]

This is why every runner should get a minimum fixed amount for running, whenever they leave the gate.
I am also curious in the case of a claim, does non-starter status nullify any claim? Like when a rider gwets thrown?

[Imriledup]

I think the key to this situation is that if you were a bettor and really watched the start carefully, you could have noticed that your horse received an unfair start and thus, watched the race knowing she was going to be barred from the wagering no matter what the outcome. The people who were astute enough to know she might be declared a non starter weren't as upset with the announcement as were the ones who didn't notice her poor and unfair start.

Either way its a bad beat.

[ryesteve]

does non-starter status nullify any claim? Like when a rider gwets thrown?A horse isn't a non-starter when the rider gets thrown... at least not any that I've ever bet...

[ryesteve]

I think the key to this situation is that if you were a bettor and really watched the start carefully, you could have noticed that your horse received an unfair startLike I said, if that's the case, why would this horse receive any purse money? If this is the steward's reasoning, then the connections of the 3rd place finishers are the ones who have a beef. You can't have it both ways.