Quote:
Originally Posted by ReplayRandall
You got time now to tell me a heated stewards story involving a split decision?
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At Ferndale we DQ'ed a Mule. It was as simple and cut and dried as a decision could be. They were racing around a turn. Running 660 yards. The mule wiped out three others. One of which amazingly was coming back on to almost win the race. 2-1 split decision. When we asked the dissenter what the hell race was he looking at he said I'm leaving it as is and you would too if you understood the " Persona of the Mule" There was a HUGE stink because a bridge jumper had $200,000 to show on the Mule and we DQ'ed her completely out of the money to 4th.
Biggest argument I ever had was over whether a horse should be a late scratch. The filly showed up in the paddock wearing blinkers. She had not worn them in her last start and there was no change of equipment on either the overnight or program. They were coming out of the paddock. Trainer insisted he put the COE on the entry card. We called the racing office and sure enough there was the change. It's now 7 minutes to post and we have to decide what to do. We gave the trainer the option to run her without the blinkers. He didn't want to do that. So I voted to scratch the filly. One of my fellow stewards agreed but the other was very vociferous that she should be allowed to run with the blinkers if an announcement was made with TV graphics and a crawl. This was further complicated by another trainer in the race complaining that it would effect the tactics he intended to use with his filly. I said she MUST be scratched because if we let her run in blinkers it wouldn't be fair to the wagering public. The other Steward said the announcement would be enough. I said what about the people who made advance wagers and couldn't have the opportunity to cancel or change their tickets? What if they got home and lost to a filly that had blinkers when they were not on when they did their handicapping and made their wagers? The discussion got very heated. We voted 2-1 to scratch her.
As a post script to that story. The trainer was given an entry "super star" which meant she would receive 1st preference to enter in any future race she was eligible for. We also fined the complaining trainer for inappropriate behavior towards racing officials. The racing office was also fined for the clerical error of not properly posting the blinker change which WAS on the original entry card.
I'll share if I think of any others.
