Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom
Why is Saez serving days NEXT week instead of THIS week?
To accommodate his stakes ride maybe?
Hardly a punishment.
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The fact that suspensions are never served at prestige meets is complete corruption. There is no excuse for it and no other professional sport would tolerate it. For instance, when Tom Brady was suspended for alleged involvement in deflating footballs, the commissioner's office didn't allow him to time an appeal so that it would be served in pre-season games. Same with corked bat suspensions in baseball-- they don't get served in spring training. If your team's in a pennant race, too bad. The Black Sox were suspended in the middle of a pennant race in 1920.
Every racing official who tolerates this is corrupt, doesn't care about the integrity of the sport, and should be removed by the appropriate regulatory agency. And every rule that permits this should be repealed.
The vast, vast majority of suspensions are based on conduct within a race, where the only relevant evidence is the various videotapes of the race and whatever statements are given to the stewards by the riders. There is no basis whatsoever for a long appeal. Appeals should take a day.
And there's also no reason to stay every suspension pending appeal. In the courts I practice, the standard default rule is that you DON'T get a stay when you lose a case or motion. It starts to run. There are plenty of people in jail right now while they appeal their convictions.
The stewards suspend you, that should be it. It starts that minute. If the rider can get it overturned by the racing commission the next day, then he or she can ride again. Otherwise, they serve it.
And the "designated race rule" is also pure corruption and should be eliminated. You get suspended 2 days before the BC Classic? Fine. You lose the mount. Don't want to lose the mount? Should have thought of that before you violated the rules.
That's how it works in every other profession. If a lawyer gets suspended by their state bar, they don't get to argue their Supreme Court appeal next week under the "designated case rule". If a doctor gets suspended by the medical board, they don't get to perform heart surgery the next week under the "designated procedure rule".
The whole thing is corrupt, and it goes a long way to illustrating what the regulatory problems are with horse racing.
