Ontario's Urging Rule

[RaceTrackDaddy]

To those who have the capiblity to see a replay of the 2nd race tonight (Sep 14th) at Mohawk, watch it closely.

Trevor Richie gets by in the lane over the top favorite and wins at 3/1. He gets disqualified and placed 7th (last) due to his switching to lines to one hand and what the judges determined was "violating the urging rule".

There is no better way to turn off the public by placing a winner at 3/1 last because the driver used one hand to hold the lines. He barely touched the horse at all but it was clear that he did use one hand to hold both lines.

I can see fines or suspensions but to make the public pay for this is totally nuts. I sent off a letter to the Ontario Race Commission. Basically if they desire to keep this rule and screw the public, we here in the USA might as well boycott the Canadian tracks. To tank a horse all one driver needs to do is to drive with both lines in one hand. I really feel safe betting on Canadian tracks from Ontario Provicine now.

If interested, the commission's email is:
inquiry@ontarioracingcommission.ca (inquiry@ontarioracingcommission.ca)

Mention the word boycott a couple times and they will see their error in their new rule.
rtd

[Sea Biscuit]

To those who have the capiblity to see a replay of the 2nd race tonight (Sep 14th) at Mohawk, watch it closely.

Trevor Richie gets by in the lane over the top favorite and wins at 3/1. He gets disqualified and placed 7th (last) due to his switching to lines to one hand and what the judges determined was "violating the urging rule".

There is no better way to turn off the public by placing a winner at 3/1 last because the driver used one hand to hold the lines. He barely touched the horse at all but it was clear that he did use one hand to hold both lines.

I can see fines or suspensions but to make the public pay for this is totally nuts. I sent off a letter to the Ontario Race Commission. Basically if they desire to keep this rule and screw the public, we here in the USA might as well boycott the Canadian tracks. To tank a horse all one driver needs to do is to drive with both lines in one hand. I really feel safe betting on Canadian tracks from Ontario Provicine now.

If interested, the commission's email is:
inquiry@ontarioracingcommission.ca (inquiry@ontarioracingcommission.ca)

Mention the word boycott a couple times and they will see their error in their new rule.
rtd

I just finished watching the video and I have to tell you this I am totally and utterly disgusted by the official's decision. This was exactly what I was afraid of and it happened today.

The urging rule was initially devised by some unknown idiot in the ORC so that the drivers do NOT abuse horses with their whips. Did Trevor Ritchie abuse Agostura in the 2nd race at Mohawk today (Sept 14). Did he hit him too hard or did he hit him too many times is the question here. The answer is an emphatic NO to all the questions. Yes he was holding the reins with one hand and to place him 7th after winning the race is plain stupid on the part of the officials. Right there they must have 100s of fans cursing this idiotic rule cursing the officials and cursiing harness racing.

Holding reins in one hand comes naturally to the drivers as they have been doing it all their lives but to place him 7th and make the fans pay for a simple mistake like that is horrifying to say the least. The officials could easily have fined him or warned him for this first time offence but they have this iditoc rule in black and whitel and they have to follow it to the letter.

Shame on the ORC for formulating this rule.

Love to hear your comments Pacinguy. You seem to be all for this rule. Now what do you have to say.


I will definately send my comments to the ORC. Thanks to RTD for providing the email address.

Sea Biscuit.

[Pacingguy]

I just finished watching the video and I have to tell you this I am totally and utterly disgusted by the official's decision. This was exactly what I was afraid of and it happened today.

The urging rule was initially devised by some unknown idiot in the ORC so that the drivers do NOT abuse horses with their whips. Did Trevor Ritchie abuse Agostura in the 2nd race at Mohawk today (Sept 14). Did he hit him too hard or did he hit him too many times is the question here. The answer is an emphatic NO to all the questions. Yes he was holding the reins with one hand and to place him 7th after winning the race is plain stupid on the part of the officials. Right there they must have 100s of fans cursing this idiotic rule cursing the officials and cursiing harness racing.

Holding reins in one hand comes naturally to the drivers as they have been doing it all their lives but to place him 7th and make the fans pay for a simple mistake like that is horrifying to say the least. The officials could easily have fined him or warned him for this first time offence but they have this iditoc rule in black and whitel and they have to follow it to the letter.

Shame on the ORC for formulating this rule.

Love to hear your comments Pacinguy. You seem to be all for this rule. Now what do you have to say.


I will definately send my comments to the ORC. Thanks to RTD for providing the email address.

Sea Biscuit.

You are right I was in favor for a rule change to reduce the amount of whipping. Is this the ideal rule, obviously not. That being said, I don't think the old rule was good. Let me tell you where I think the new rule fails.

I would prefer the disaqualification take place after the race is made official for wagering purposes when the official judge's ruling is issued. I don't think the bettor should be penalized. I do think to stop the excessive whipping (in general, not talking about this specific case) the horse needs to be disqualified from purse earnings and the driver should not get his portion of the purse so the fine is not offset by whatever the driver makes in the race. If by declaring the race official mandates the owner pay the driver their fee regardless of a decision after the fact, the rule should be modified to make the fine the amount called for in the rules plus the forfeiture of whatever the driver earned in the race over and above their final placing. By the owner losing their portion of the purse, it will send a message to the driver because rest assured, the owners will not be happy with the driver costing them purse earnings and the owner should insist the trainer next time put up a driver that will follow the rule or risk loosing the horse.

That being said, the racing commission was holding drivers meeting in the province before the rule went into effect to go over the new rule. If you had looked at last week's Fines and Suspensions for the Ontario Racing Commission you will see they were warning drivers for the past two weeks regarding the new rule so unless drivers don't talk to each other off the track Trevor Ritchie was aware they were taking the rule seriously.

As for the rule being formulated by one idiot in the ORC, it was actually a whole bunch of people, including drivers working on developing this rule. I assume like in NJ before a rule change is implemented, a proposed rule is published for public comment at which time the rule change is either approved, modified or rejected. I would assume it went through this process.

Hopefully (perhaps naiively), this one disqualification will send home the message to the drivers that yikes, the judges mean business and there won't be a need for another disqaulification. I also would like to think with the comments being submitted by bettors the rule will be modified as I suggest above.

[Pacingguy]

My previous remarks notwithstanding, it should not have been too hard for Trevor Ritchie to keep his hands in both lines so I have sympathy for Trevor Ritchie.

[Sea Biscuit]

You are right I was in favor for a rule change to reduce the amount of whipping. Is this the ideal rule, obviously not. That being said, I don't think the old rule was good. Let me tell you where I think the new rule fails.

I would prefer the disaqualification take place after the race is made official for wagering purposes when the official judge's ruling is issued. I don't think the bettor should be penalized. I do think to stop the excessive whipping (in general, not talking about this specific case) the horse needs to be disqualified from purse earnings and the driver should not get his portion of the purse so the fine is not offset by whatever the driver makes in the race. If by declaring the race official mandates the owner pay the driver their fee regardless of a decision after the fact, the rule should be modified to make the fine the amount called for in the rules plus the forfeiture of whatever the driver earned in the race over and above their final placing. By the owner losing their portion of the purse, it will send a message to the driver because rest assured, the owners will not be happy with the driver costing them purse earnings and the owner should insist the trainer next time put up a driver that will follow the rule or risk loosing the horse.

That being said, the racing commission was holding drivers meeting in the province before the rule went into effect to go over the new rule. If you had looked at last week's Fines and Suspensions for the Ontario Racing Commission you will see they were warning drivers for the past two weeks regarding the new rule so unless drivers don't talk to each other off the track Trevor Ritchie was aware they were taking the rule seriously.

As for the rule being formulated by one idiot in the ORC, it was actually a whole bunch of people, including drivers working on developing this rule. I assume like in NJ before a rule change is implemented, a proposed rule is published for public comment at which time the rule change is either approved, modified or rejected. I would assume it went through this process.

Hopefully (perhaps naiively), this one disqualification will send home the message to the drivers that yikes, the judges mean business and there won't be a need for another disqaulification. I also would like to think with the comments being submitted by bettors the rule will be modified as I suggest above.

This rule was initiated because they "believed" that with the driver holding the reins in two hands he would not be able to hit the horse hard.

The judges in this particular case should have determined if Trevor abused the horse in any shape or form. Obviously this was not the case here so why penalize the betting public. They could have easily fined the driver or a simple warning would have sufficed.

This rule needs to changed and fast.

Sea Biscuit.

[Ian Meyers]

I had a pretty big WP bet on Costa Rica last night, and turned off the PC to grab dinner after I saw Angostura get up at the wire. I had no idea she was DQ'd until I read this thread. I should go check my account balance....

Though I am happy to take the $$$ I agree it's a tough rule for bettors. To me it makes more sense to pay the original finish for pari-mutuel purposes and then DQ the /driver/owner/trainer from the purse. I feel for people that lost the 7/2 winner.

[Pacingguy]

This rule was initiated because they "believed" that with the driver holding the reins in two hands he would not be able to hit the horse hard.

The judges in this particular case should have determined if Trevor abused the horse in any shape or form. Obviously this was not the case here so why penalize the betting public. They could have easily fined the driver or a simple warning would have sufficed.

This rule needs to changed and fast.

Sea Biscuit.

Unlike the runners, in harness racing when a horse commits an infraction, they come down, not only if it impacts the outcome of the race. In this case, with the way the rule is written it was an easy decision to make. The lines were in one hand, not two. It was black and white, no need to determine if the whipping was excessive or not. There was no discretion available for the judges. The rule indicates "For an offence where a driver has driven with both lines in one hand and struck the horse with the whip, the Judges shall place the horse last."

I went back to the rule and the only time a disqualification is mandated to last is when the dirver drives with one hand and uses the whip. The only other time a placing may occur is when another horse is hit by the whip or there is a flagerant violation of the urging rule. All other violations are dealt only with fines and suspensions.

Earlier I had indicated it would be better if they could disqualify for purse purposes only and leave the horse up for betting purposes. But that is not possible. An infraction which occurs during a race needs to be addressed then. The only time purse redistributions occur after wagering is either when an appeal is upheld of information comes up after the fact, such as drug violations.

Trevor Ritchie has appealed the decision but the rule is pretty clear. An arguement for an appeal under the existing rule may have had a chance if it was a question of excessive whipping, but this is clear. "A driver, or the person in control of the horse, is required to: a) keep a line in each hand for the entire race, from the starter’s call to the gate until the finish of the race, except for the purpose of adjusting equipment". Not much wiggle room here. I will be curious to see what the grounds of his appeal are. I believe the racing commission will deny his appeal (I would not be surprised if the owners go to court).

It certainly is unfortunate that a disqualification has occured but while you may dispute the rule (and you should make your voices heard if you do), some of the anger should be addressed to Trevor Ritchie. The easiest part of the rule to comply with is keeping your hands on both lines. Why didn't he do that? We wouldn't be having this discussion now if he followed the rule.

[beaucap]

If the commish is so worried about the horse being abused with the whip...why don't they eliminate the whip.

[Sea Biscuit]

If the commish is so worried about the horse being abused with the whip...why don't they eliminate the whip.

Good point there, Beaucap.

Then they can drive the horses with one hand, two hands or no hands at all.

Sea Biscuit.

[DeanT]

If the commish is so worried about the horse being abused with the whip...why don't they eliminate the whip.
They looked at that, but the drivers didnt like it. They went to the European rules instead. In Sweden they have been driving with two hands in the handholds for 50 years. Some habits are hard to break I guess. Trevor must have forgot and went to instinct.

[beaucap]

They looked at that, but the drivers didnt like it. They went to the European rules instead. In Sweden they have been driving with two hands in the handholds for 50 years. Some habits are hard to break I guess. Trevor must have forgot and went to instinct.

If they made that a rule (no whips) the drivers would have to get use to it or not drive. We did'nt like the the gas situation, but we got use to it. I found an article from Aussie racing (Throughbred) recent Sept 10.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,26027897-7583,00.html

[LottaKash]

Dumb Rule....:eek:

A logical contender wins his race honestly, and is taken down, now, how dumb is that....

I still maintain my position that horses in the "lane" do not have problems going striaight....A tired horse will drift one way or the other, but not, a "live and game" horse....

If there were accidents "aplenty" in the homestretch, I could understand the "one hand" rule, but there are virtually no accidents due to the condition of driving both lines in one hand.....

Heck, when I was a groom, even I could keep a horse going "straight and safely" on the straight part of the track....Dumb rule...

Over abuse of the whip, YES, a good rule change (still, that one, was always on the books, and not supported or enforced by the judges)....One handed line driving NO, a bad rule change, imo...

Me personally, I will watch more and bet less at the Ontario tracks from hereon......I'll be darned if I will watch my money get burned up on a legitimate winner by some "dumb-rule".......

best,

[Barney Rubble]

This is just plain bad. I will not be betting Mohawk in the future.

[Sea Biscuit]

Dumb Rule....:eek:

Me personally, I will watch more and bet less at the Ontario tracks from hereon......I'll be darned if I will watch my money get burned up on a legitimate winner by some "dumb-rule".......

best,

Heres a prime example how a diehard player like LottaKash can suddenly lose interest in our tracks because of one dumb rule. Since yesterday I have been to all the harness forums I am a member of and the sentiments at every one of them are the same.

We are witnessing the last nails in the coffin of harness racing in Ontario being driven in.

God help us is all I can say.

Sea Biscuit.

[LottaKash]

I have been watching and wagering on "Harness-Racing" for nearly 47-years, and in all that time I have witnessed all the "GREAT" (hall of famers) Horses and Drivers alike, doing their great deeds.....

I have seen the "great drivers" high-line with one hand driving and whipping, winning their races.....And they did it without "ABUSING" their horses......

That is my point....If it was good enough with the "greats" doing it, then I say , it is still safe to do so by the greats of today.....And the emphasis is on safe and humane...

Trevor Rithchie, imo, is one of those greats, especially with trotters.....He is very safe and kind to his mounts.... He is true gentleman and a consumate professional in the sport....It was not right to take his number down....He is capable of driving right...

From a bettors standpoint, I want each and every one of my "bets", to to be all out for the win, and I advocate letting the "Professionals" do all within their power & skills to try as hard as they can to "WIN THE RACE", and long as it is safe and humane to do so....That is all I care about......

This game, in modern times, has existed and endured for "BETTING" purposes, first and formost....That is all I care about....Not some lip service being paid to people who have no interest or stake in this game..

If I wanted to see just some horses running around the track, I would go once or twice a year to a fair meeting at the "state or county fair" and that would be it....

Ontario, let them race....I am "ONE" of the reasons that your sport/game exists.....Or don't you care about us anymore ?....Maybe you never did..

best

[Pacingguy]

While I disagree, I can understand and respect people's objections to the new rule. However, being the rule is the rule at this time, virtually no one is putting any blame on Trevor Ritchie for violating the rule by driving one handed (perhaps by accident), the only action which the new rule mandates, no ifs or buts, a disqualification to last. If he did not drive one handed we would not be talking about this today.

Am I to understand he has zero responsibility for the horse being disqualified?

[DeanT]

Virtually no one is putting any blame on Trevor Ritchie for violating the rule by driving one handed.
Shhhhh. MOre fun to blame racing commissions :)

[RaceTrackDaddy]

It was not my intention to leave Trevor innocent. He did what mostly any driver with his years of experience would of done, that is to revert to something he has done many times. He got caught. What I want brought to light is that this rule and its penalty for Dq'd to last place had not the insight for what would happen to the wagering public.

It is a total disgrace to the sport of harness racing. I can see if they were whipping hard and with one hand holding the lines, the horse would run sideways into another, but they have rules on the books for that ie Excessive Whipping, Interference, Driving in a wreckless Manner, etc. This rule was totally unnecessary and not only hurts the connections of the horse but shows to the public that even the rules are corrupt when to the untrained eye, there horse is taken down as if it were Popfinger dropping his feet to drag the track when on top of race in the movie "Easy Money".

This sport is dying and what new fans that do come out will be perplexed in the least and turned off with never returning to the track as the worst case scenario. This rule needs to be either suspended or modified in a way that gives the appearance of integrity to the public. I personally had to post up my selections when my regular race analyst could not email me. I had a great night but I will no longer wager a penny of my money in Ontario as long as this rule is in force.

My results at Mohawk from last night
http://mysite.verizon.net/r.zanakis/stats/wegmonres.htm

My Year to date stats at Woodbing/Mohawk
http://mysite.verizon.net/r.zanakis/stats/z_weg.htm

[markgoldie]

While I disagree, I can understand and respect people's objections to the new rule. However, being the rule is the rule at this time, virtually no one is putting any blame on Trevor Ritchie for violating the rule by driving one handed (perhaps by accident), the only action which the new rule mandates, no ifs or buts, a disqualification to last. If he did not drive one handed we would not be talking about this today.

Am I to understand he has zero responsibility for the horse being disqualified?
A close inspection of the race shows that Ritchie only put the lines in one hand in order to pull out the earplugs, which is allowed by the rules. He subsequently taps the horse with the whip before putting the lines back in each hand. For this infraction, the bettors not only lost, but the owners suffer a major blow because not only did the horse lose the $15,000 portion of the purse but the race was an elimination for a much larger final for which the horse will not be eligible.

This rule, as other have pointed out, is a travesty. As far as safety is concerned, why would anyone believe that whipping with the line in your hand is any safer than putting the lines in one hand in order to whip? In fact, it is less safe, since the whipping action of the arm is also pulling on the line. If it is a matter of just the vigor with which you can whip, then enforce excessive or abusive whipping rules.

[melman]

I am in complete agreement with the last two posts by Race Track Daddy and Markgoldie. This is sad, very sad.

[LottaKash]

I am in complete agreement with the last two posts by Race Track Daddy and Markgoldie. This is sad, very sad.

Melman, it is "more" than "sad"....It is an abomination and an insult to all the bettors who make an honest wager and expect to be paid when they win....

New fans, heck, they can't even keep the ones they have left....I ain't playin there anymore, and I love that place, and wager much, and often there...

best,