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What could possibly go wrong?
So after the 2 Saratoga debacles so far this week it got me thinking about all the things that can go wrong before, during & after a race & as rare as these situations may be, it’d be nice if there could be national agreement on how to handle such events so that bettors & horsemen don’t get screwed & rules can be clear-cut & quickly referenced in the case of any of these happening (again). Here’s a list of a variety of things I’ve seen at the races, and my questions on how they should be handled. I’m not necessarily looking for answers, this is more rhetorical in what track operators should be asking themselves in creating rules.
Other posters feel free to add other circumstances (commonplace or bizarre) that you’ve seen & could envision needing a fair(er) ruling. Also note that while compiling this list it really made me question the time & effort I devote to this sport seeing all that goes wrong lol
During a race:
Lights go out during a nighttime race – if they’re only out for say 1 second, is the race still valid?
Earthquake – how severe would it need to be to create a no contest?
For the following group of items, how much interference constitutes a refund on a particular horse vs an overall no-contest or just letting the result stand as is?
Other animals colliding or interfering with horses or jockeys (deer, flamingoes, geese etc).
Significant amount of debris interfering with horses during a race
Part of the rail lying down in the middle of the stretch
Uneven rail placement causing horses inside to swerve
General crazy person blocks the track & takes a swing at a horse
Protestors block the track mid-race
An object is thrown at the horses or jockeys mid-race
Gate opens too early for 1 or multiple horses
Gate opens too slowly for 1 or multiple horses
Starter opens the gate but not every horse has loaded
Multi-horse accident leaves a number of starters as non-finishers.
Gunshots or other security threat in the grandstand while the race is occurring
In a 2 turn race, a horse or jockey are down on the track being attended to past the finish line - how far away is far enough to allow the race to continue to completion vs stopping the race?
Gate stuck in the stretch – at what point in the race do they have to try & stop the runners vs. giving more time for the tractor to work?
Before a race:
Accidental scratch reported, both early or late, can this horse be put back into the pools if the situation is immediately caught?
A coupled entry has a late scratch, do they go as purse money only or is a bettor stuck with the remaining part of the entry?
A horse acts up in the gate & injures their jockey, how much time do they have to bring out a replacement or does this necessitate a scratch?
Heavy fog rolls in right at post-time making visibility essentially impossible, postpone (for how long?), cancel or run the race as-is?
Horse throws a shoe without enough time to repair & only has 3 shoes for the race, do they go as purse money only or remain in the mutuel field?
Power/tote outage very close to post-time. Do you run the race with the money in the pool or do you have to cancel if a fix is not imminent?
After a race:
A coupled entry has a winner, but the worse finishing part is DQ’ed for a foul, is the winner DQ’ed too?
Steward error leads to the disqualification of the wrong horse & an official posting, do they have recourse to rectify the error as quickly as possible?
Placing judge/steward error leads to the official posting of the wrong order, do they have recourse to rectify the error as quickly as possible?
A horse with an unfairly poor start finishes in the money. Can they be declared a non-starter only for parimutuel purposes or do the connections lose out on purse money as well?
A horse with an unfairly poor start finishes 3rd. The first place finisher is DQ’ed way down in the field for interference, the 2nd place finisher fails their drug test. Since the horse with the poor start was already declared a non-starter, they were not awarded 1st place purse money in this scenario & instead the official winner was now the 4th place finisher. Would there be a way to keep this situation from occurring again?
If a horse with an unfair start finishes 2nd & the winner has an inquiry flashing, does the 2nd place horse have a chance of being moved up to be the winner or is being declared a non-starter the first decision the stewards need to adjudicate before looking at an interference inquiry?
Races are forced to be cancelled for the remainder of the day after several legs of a multi-race wager have already been run, are winners paid or is everyone refunded? If there was a carryover is this part of the day’s payout?
OK, that’s an exhausting list of moments to relive! Hopefully if any of these events occur again officials will be prepared to competently handle them.
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